randomwalks/dj

When I visit customers quite often they tell me about number of creative techniques they heard on the conferences, read on the blogs, forums and Internet articles and they ask me if they should use them. My advice is frequently - do not. It is fun to be creative but creative solutions also means unproven and people who had to become creative with their system often did that because they had no choice. Of course when they came to the bunch of conferences and told their story which resonated across the Internet sticking to the people mind as a good practice.

There are 2 things you should ask yourself. First is the scale comparable - the recipes from Facebook, YouTube, Yahoo, are not good for like 99.9% of the applications because they are not even remotely close in size and so capacity requirements. Second if this “smart thing” was truly thought out architecture choice in beginning or it was the choice within code base constrains they had, and so you might not have.

Let me look into couple of most typical reservations.

Sharding - This is perhaps the technology people get obsessed with most regularly. Sometimes it looks like a homepage running on 100K database visited by 100 people in a month is attempted to be sharded. Remember as commodity hardware is advancing the size of the application when you really need to shard moves further and further away. I remember LiveJournal with 4GB of memory per box doing sharding 5 years ago…. well now you can get a box with 128G of RAM within $15K. Keeping working set in memory is not the only reason for sharding but one of the most frequent ones. The examples I like to use is YouTube - they did not shard until after Google bought them (though they were in pain) and 37Signals

When doing Performance Audit we tend to look at the required capacity and data size within current horizon. In many cases even with super optimistic assumptions application will do just fine with single “cluster” even on the current hardware for several years.

Replication Optimization People often get scared with the fact replication is single thread and often becomes bottleneck so they are using various optimizations including tricky prefetch approaches suggested by YouTube. Interesting enough this often happens even when system is far from reaching its replication capacity.

I would suggest measure and monitor your replication capacity (how long will it take a slave to catch up 1 hour lag of peak traffic ?) and act appropriately. Also focus on simple optimizations first, if you need to get to prefetch you’re quite likely beyond reasonable use of single master and should have done sharding functional partitioning or something else.

Complex Replication There are impressive numbers out there on how many slaves people run and how complex replication topologies with multiple tiers filtering and writes to some intermediary slaves people use. For me simple is best. Complex architectures are more error prone harder to maintain (upgrades etc) and troubleshoot. Remember for every single “role” in such setup you need to understand what to do with it if any other “role” in the system fails, which escalates complexity. You may need something more advanced than master and one slave but any complication needs to be justified. I also should note slaves are not overly efficient beasts - they not only store the copy of data on the disk, wasting resources but their caches are also highly redundant defeating the fact you may have a lot of total memory on the slave farm.

Reading from the Slaves The story heard is typically - Web applications often have significantly prevailing reads so to scale we better have many slaves which we can use to handle most of our read traffic right ? Sure. Unless you’re using memcache or other caching option. Successful memcache implementations often report 90% cache hit ratio meaning 10 to 1 read ratio drop backs to one to one. This means you may not need a lot of slaves if your application allows use of efficient caching.

Now lets look at the simplified case - you got pair of servers replicating as Master-Master which you typically want for high availability and online schema changes. How far you want to go making your application being capable to read from the slave ? Remember as you’re doing this for high availability and online schema changes you’re planning to operate without slave every so often, meaning one server should be able to handle all traffic from capacity planning standpoint anyway. At the same time slave can be perfect to be used for non production impacting things like analytics.

High Availability The trick with high availability is the more complex architectures and processes you use for high availability prevention the more likely it is for them to fail. Unless you’re Google scale with failures happening daily you can’t really be sure you’re handling “wild” failures, not the test ones well. Furthermore you always have to look at failures caused by other things - wrong code pushed to production, hacker break in, data center power failure etc.

Google guys tells us single MySQL server on a good hardware has MTBF somewhere between 1000 and 2000 days. This is a lot of time which means for most of applications having a pair of slaves (even though second slave is available for failover only 99% of the time) is more than enough.

I would say more. In my experience the availability of the application is only related to the MySQL redundancy for very high quality/high scale applications. I’ve seen applications having no downtime running for years on single MySQL server (which just does not crash) as well as complex no single point of failure database backend with application constantly going down because of bad code or something unpredicted.

Summary: So am I denying all MySQL industry practices (which we also covered in a great depth in our book) ? Not really. I’m just suggesting do not just grab advice from the Internet or friends tip and do not complicate beyond the need. You may start with couple of replicated nodes for high availability and maintenance if you’re in serious business (and just one server and good point in time backup if you’re on the budget) and assess any need for any complications. It may be boring but boring systems often have highest uptime

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Originally posted by peter from MySQL Performance Blog, on February 28, 2009 9:08 PM

THIS IS THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BEING AWESOME.

Originally posted by owillis@gmail.com (Oliver Willis) from Oliver Willis, on February 28, 2009 9:06 PM

From the latest New Yorker, "Wiggle Room", an excerpt from David Foster Wallace's unfinished third novel The Pale King, as well as a long & really, really sad essay/profile about DFW, "The Unfinished", that talks about his depression and his attempts to fight it, as well as this unfinished novel:

The novel continues Wallace's preoccupation with mindfulness. It is about being in the moment and paying attention to the things that matter, and centers on a group of several dozen I.R.S. agents working in the Midwest. Their job is tedious, but dullness, "The Pale King" suggests, ultimately sets them free. A typed note that Wallace left in his papers laid out the novel's idea: "Bliss—a-second-by-second joy and gratitude at the gift of being alive, conscious—lies on the other side of crushing, crushing boredom. Pay close attention to the most tedious thing you can find (Tax Returns, Televised Golf) and, in waves, a boredom like you’ve never known will wash over you and just about kill you. Ride these out, and it’s like stepping from black and white into color. Like water after days in the desert. Instant bliss in every atom."

Originally posted by btrott from Stupidfool.org, on February 28, 2009 8:24 PM

Atrios pointed me to Joe Nocera's piece in the Times on AIG and just what it was they were doing and why we're now having to spend perhaps hundreds of billions of dollars to clean up the mess.

I strongly recommend reading it.

For those of us who aren't well versed in economics or complex financial instruments, just what it was these difference banks and investment houses and insurance companies were doing can be really difficult to understand. But Nocera breaks it down in a very clear and thus highly infuriating way.

Though he doesn't explicitly make the point, the article also suggests one reason why basically every big financial institution is now living by the grace of the federal government. Even if they could, for an institution like Goldman Sachs, it wouldn't matter if they gave back the TARP money. We're shelling out so much money to "AIG" because we need to protect its trading partners from the folly of their dealings with AIG. We're making good on the various reckless bets that AIG made with its various trading partners.

Originally posted by Josh Marshall from Talking Points Memo, on February 28, 2009 7:11 PM

Remember when we made Kenny Shopsin's lemon-ricotta pancakes a few months back? At the time I noted that we had found the recipe in the New York Times Magazine alongside Shopsin's infinitely more delirious Mac & Cheese Pancakes, but when it came time to choose, "it really wasn't much of a decision" because we had farm-fresh ricotta on-hand. What I didn't mention was that at the time, we couldn't for the life of us imagine what the taste and textural qualities of Mac & Cheese Pancakes might be like. We certainly were intrigued, though. So intrigued, in fact, that when we got back home, we made picking up a copy of Shopsin's Eat Me: The Food and Philosophy of Kenny Shopsin a top priority. Not because we needed the Mac & Cheese Pancakes recipe--it was right there in black & white in the New York Times Magazine--but because we wanted to further acquaint ourselves with the philosophy behind the Mac & Cheese Pancakes and the rest of Kenny Shopsin's ridiculously huge and hilariously inventive repertoire. And if we happened to learn the origin of the Mac & Cheese Pancake, all the better.*

Well, sure enough, Eat Me has been one of our absolute favorite reads on the last few months, and Shopsin's Mac & Cheese Pancakes were among the very first recipes that we tried out. All I can say is that--I admit it--I was a little skeptical about the Mac & Cheese Pancakes, but now, when I think of pancakes, I think of these first. I'm not even kidding.

The funny thing is, the first time we made them, we read the recipe in Eat Me carefully, but somehow, unconsciously, we ended up making them not as the recipe actually instructed, but as we imagined they'd be made. [Later, I was reminded of a story: In describing Kenny's Egyptian Burrito, Calvin Trillin once wrote: "An Egyptian Burrito is a burrito, and inside is sort of what Kenny thinks Egyptians might eat."] You see, Kenny's original recipe calls for cooked elbow macaroni tossed with olive oil, with the cheddar cheese added separately. We, on the other hand, began with a pretty deluxe batch of leftover mac & cheese. Anyway, this was totally accidental, but our Mac & Cheese Pancakes ended up being at least twice as cheesy as Shopsin's, and quite a bit more savory. However, having now read Eat Me, we know all too well what Kenny thinks of bacon in pancakes. We have a feeling he'd approve of our Special Edition Mac & Cheese Pancakes.

What you need:

fig. a: leftover mac & cheese

1. leftover macaroni & cheese, preferably leftovers from a batch of E & D Special Mac & Cheese.

fig. b: pancake batter

2. pancake batter, such as this one:

Pancake Batter

7 tablespoons butter
1 1/3 cups whole milk
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cups flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon plus 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt.

In a saucepan over medium-low heat, heat the butter and milk until the butter melts. Set aside until lukewarm. Beat the eggs in a medium bowl. Slowly pour 1/2 cup of the warm milk mixture into the eggs while stirring. Stir in the remaining milk mixture.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture, a little at a time, stirring slowly, just until the dry ingredients are moistened. The batter should be lumpy and will start to bubble.

Makes about 3 1/2 cups.

fig. c: cheddar cheese

3. a block of medium-sharp cheddar cheese

What you need to know:

Special Edition Mac & Cheese Pancakes

butter for the skillet and for serving
3 cups pancake batter
1 heaping cup macaroni & cheese, preferably E & D Special Mac & Cheese, at room temperature
1 heaping cup grated cheddar cheese
medium Grade A (or B--Kenny prefers B) maple syrup

Heat your skillet over medium heat. When it's hot, add the butter and run it across the skillet surface, then use a small ladle to pour the batter on the skillet. When small bubbles cover 40-50% of the surface of your pancakes (after about 2 minutes), drop about 1 tablespoon of the mac & cheese on each pancake, and then, as if that wasn't enough, sprinkle a layer of cheddar on top, before using a thin spatula to quickly and artfully flip the pancakes. Turn the heat down a little, use the spatula to press down on the pancakes a bit, and when the undersides are golden, about 2 minutes later, use the spatula to transfer the pancakes to a plate, mac & cheese & cheese side up.

Serve with butter and maple syrup. Makes roughly 12 4-inch pancakes.

[inspired by Kenny Shopsin's Mac n Cheese Pancakes, Eat Me]

If all goes well they should look something like this:

fig. d: the finished product

And they should taste outrageously good. You see, our E & D Special Mac & Cheese has a copious amount of thick-cut bacon in it, so what you end up with is a Mac & Cheese Pancake with bacon built right into it. As Kenny might say: "It's really very sexy."

aj

* We did: it was a dish specially invented for a regular customer who only ever ordered one of two dishes at Shopsin's, the mac & cheese or the pancakes, and who one day asked Kenny to decide which he should have.

Originally posted by aj kinik from ...an endless banquet, on February 28, 2009 6:07 PM

when is summer?

Originally posted by (author unknown) from the real janelle, on February 28, 2009 12:15 PM

Scans_daily is was a LiveJournal community specializing in posting scans of comic books, both older and current ones. On Friday night, however, the community got suspended, allegedly because comics author Peter David complained that one of his books was posted to it (David denies this in the linked blog post.) Regulars at scans_daily are outraged that the community has been shut down, claiming that the ability for people to "try before they buy" encouraged readers to buy more comics. Other comics fans are not so kind and cite that, for better or worse, the community was knowingly violating copyright. The community has resurfaced and is at least discussing what changes should be made to avoid this "unpleasantness" in the future and make the community more "copyright friendly". We've seen these issues come up with movies, games, and music; now it's comic books' turn to try to figure out what to do about the internet and digital technology.

Originally posted by Legomancer from MetaFilter posts tagged with copyright, on February 28, 2009 11:55 AM

Coffee.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Marco.org, on February 28, 2009 11:22 AM

Lift09 is over and I only have enough energy to post this intriguing light sign we encountered when visiting the cathedral in Geneva. It’s supposed to indicate to visitors when they can go down the stairs (to avoid traffic congestion in the narrow staircases). An interesting example of signage.

Originally posted by Nicolas Nova from Pasta&Vinegar, on February 28, 2009 11:14 AM

scoreboardgourmet.typepad.com

Scoreboard Gourmet is a blog covering food's intersection with sports, particularly baseball right now. With Florida spring training in full swing, they are less focused on steroid scandals, more so on hot dog vendors and smoked corn. Some recent breaking news: the new Yankees stadium will not sell guava juice. [via djacobs]

Originally posted by Erin Zimmer from Serious Eats, on February 28, 2009 10:00 AM

Well, it just gets better and better. As you know, we've been tracking the debunking of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's tall tale about being right there on the front lines fighting government bureaucracy with Sheriff Harry Lee while the boat rescues were still taking place in the aftermath of Katrina. Well, today, the New Orleans Times-Picayune has a gentle but pretty clear run-down of what happened.

In so many words, in Jindal's speech Tuesday night he said he was there and part of the story as it unfolded -- Sheriff Lee was trying to mobilize civilian boats for roof-rescues and government bureaucrats wouldn't let them head out without proof of insurance and registration. Lee put his foot down and dared the bureaucrats to come arrest him. And when Jindal put his foot down too Lee said they should come arrest Jindal too.

Only, Jindal's staff now admits that that actually didn't happen. Instead of being there and being part of the story, Jindal's reps now admit that days later Jindal overheard Lee telling the story to someone else. And Jindal retold the story he'd been told while inserting himself into it as part of the story.

It's not really any different from a lot of tall tales we've probably all heard at one point or another when someone takes a fun story they've heard and retells it making themselves one of the central characters.

Now, Jindal's reps are still in high dudgeon over this, saying Jindal was totally on the level, claiming some mix of it not making any difference whether Jindal made up his role in the story or not or that what Jindal actually said was never meant to imply that he was part of the story rather than someone who heard about it later. But that's pretty preposterous if you look at what Jindal actually said.

But now there's this. TPM Reader EA just flagged this youtube video that appears to show Jindal telling the same story last year, only with even more embroidery about his own part in the drama ..

It's hardly a capital offense. Jindal's not the first gubernatorial fibber or pol with a fish story. But, c'mon, even more in this earlier version, it's clear he made up a version of the story where he was in it.

Originally posted by Josh Marshall from Talking Points Memo, on February 28, 2009 9:45 AM

Nearing a week after launching Hugga 2.0, we've worked out most of the bugs and issues.

Yesterday we got the Huggacasts back working, 404s resolved, and will keep making the site even huggier.

Readers are reporting some issues when logging in to comment and creating accounts. We're checking those and note that there are like 17 ways to get into the site. If one doesn't work, we've got another and Typepad authentication seems the most reliable. If you're having issues, please contact us.

There are some transitory issues and periodic strangeness you may have seen. We don't know either, that's just how it goes on the Interwebs.

I'll talk more about Hugga 2.0 during the Try Making Yourself More Interesting panel at SXSW and our Mobile Social.

Props

The site launched with the work and help of

• Jay Allen -- Application Architect, user interface, development
• Scott Benish -- Design, problem solving
• Six Apart -- Movable Type partner
• Our bloggers -- Andrew, Mark, David (new), Galen, Frank, Kellie

Thank you readers for your comments and for reading our blog.

Originally posted by DL Byron from Bike Hugger, on February 28, 2009 5:00 AM

Crossword puzzle stunt dress time!

Yep, today's the ACPT tournament, and I'll be wearing this:



I haven't sewn down the facings yet in this picture, so they're a little lumpy. Can you see what else is wrong with it? No?



How about now?

Yep. I cut the ENTIRE THING OUT UPSIDE DOWN. (Insert forehead-slap here.) When I figured this out I was hopping mad for about ten minutes, but I didn't have enough time OR fabric for a do-over, so then I just laughed. It's funnier this way, and of course, from MY perspective (that of the WEARER), looking down at the dress, it's right-side-up! So that's how I'm going to think about it, anyway.

It's a Duro Junior (Simplicity 3875), which I think of more as a summer-type dress, but I'm just going to wear it with a black tee underneath it and tights and just hope it's not as cold as the weatherfolk say it's supposed to be. I'll be inside, solving (or, in my case, often NOT-solving) puzzles most of the day anyway.

I found this last stash of Michael Miller crossword fabric at Britex months and months ago -- for next year's dress I think I'm going to get some custom fabric made up at Spoonflower. Probably an easy NYT Monday puzzle solved in red ink and tiled to fill the yardage, or maybe even as a scatter print. What do y'all think?

Oh, and tomorrow -- check out my last column filling in for Jan Freeman in the Boston Globe; I'm writing about my inadvertent coining of the word "Duro" (and how cool you all were to use it, making it "real").

Originally posted by Erin from A Dress A Day, on February 28, 2009 3:18 AM

Farhad Manjoo on the unrecognizable Internet of 1996.

I started thinking about the Web of yesteryear after I got an e-mail from an idly curious Slate colleague: What did people do online back when Slate launched, he wondered? After plunging into the Internet Archive and talking to several people who were watching the Web closely back then, I've got an answer: not very much.

David Wertheimer calls bullshit and retorts:

The World Wide Web was an invigorating, compelling and, frankly, amazing place in 1996. Innovations were fast, furious and quickly adopted. Clever people did clever things and pretty much everyone noticed, because "everyone" was a rather small and curious community. [...] The Internet of 1996 was certainly nothing like today's experience. But to suggest there wasn't much to do is to ignore everything that was being done.

I'm obviously with Team David on this one.

Tags: www nostalgia davidwertheimer farhadmanjoo

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on February 27, 2009 10:25 AM

Funny, I thought this tshirt already existed. I could have sworn I'd seen it somewhere. Mentioned it to Randy, and he looked around, didn't find it. Then made it. Now available on Spreadshirt!

Originally posted by caterina from Caterina.net, on February 27, 2009 10:09 AM

[Folks, please don't use the comments section of this blog to ask questions. If you want to suggest a topic for a future blog entry, send me email. (Use Google to find my home page, which has my email address.) If you want to propose a change or discuss the merits of alternative designs, use the python-ideas mailing list at python.org.]

One of my goals for Python was to make it so that all objects were "first class." By this, I meant that I wanted all objects that could be named in the language (e.g., integers, strings, functions, classes, modules, methods, etc.) to have equal status. That is, they can be assigned to variables, placed in lists, stored in dictionaries, passed as arguments, and so forth.

The internal implementation of Python made this simple to do. All of Python's objects were based on a common C data structure that was used everywhere in the interpreter. Variables, lists, functions, and everything else just used variations of this one data structure---it just didn't matter if the structure happened to represent a simple object such as an integer or something more complicated such as a class.

Although the idea of having "first-class everything" is conceptually simple, there was still one subtle aspect of classes that I still needed to address---namely, the problem of making methods first class objects.

Consider this simple Python class (copied from last week's blog post):

class A:
     def __init__(self,x):
         self.x = x
     def spam(self,y):
        print self.x, y

If methods are going to be first-class objects, then they can be assigned to other variables and used just like other objects in Python. For example, someone could write a Python statement such as "s = A.spam". In this case, the variable "s" refers to a method of a class, which is really just a function. However, a method is not quite the same as ordinary function. Specifically, the first argument of a method is supposed to be an instance of the class in which a method was defined.

To deal with this, I created a type of callable object known as an "unbound method." An unbound method was really just a thin wrapper around the function object that implemented a method, but it enforced a restriction that the first argument had to be an instance of the class in which the method was defined. Thus, if someone wanted to call an unbound method "s" as a function, they would have to pass an instance of class "A" as the first argument. For example, "a = A(); s(a)". (*)

A related problem occurs if someone writes a Python statement that refers to a method on a specific instance of an object. For example, someone might create an instance using "a = A()" and then later write a statement such as "s = a.spam". Here, the variable "s" again refers to a method of a class, but the reference to that method was obtained through an instance "a" . To handle this situation, a different callable object known as a "bound method." is used. This object is also a thin wrapper around the function object for the method. However, this wrapper implicitly stores the original instance that was used to obtain the method. Thus, a later statement such as "s()" will call the method with the instance "a" implicitly set as the first argument.

In reality, the same internal object type is used to represent bound and unbound methods. One of the attributes of this object contains a reference to an instance. If set to None, the method is unbound. Otherwise, the method is bound.

Although bound and unbound methods might seem like an unimportant detail, they a critical part of how classes work underneath the covers. Whenever a statement such as "a.spam()" appears in a program, the execution of that statement actually occurs in two steps. First, a lookup of "a.spam" occurs. This returns a bound method--a callable object. Next, a function call operation "()" is applied to that object to invoke the method with user supplied arguments.

__________
(*) In Python 3000, the concept of unbound methods has been removed, and the expression "A.spam" returns a plain function object. It turned out that the restriction that the first argument had to be an instance of A was rarely helpful in diagnosing problems, and frequently an obstacle to advanced usages --- some have called it "duck typing self" which seems an appropriate name.

Originally posted by Guido van Rossum from The History of Python, on February 27, 2009 9:59 AM

Filed under: Open Source, iPhone, App Store, SDK

For the past month or so, developers have been taking advantage of an opening in the iPhone SDK to enable Emoji emoticons on non-Japanese iPhones, without having to resort to jailbreaking. While I was a little taken aback by the fascination and little mini-market that sprouted up around Emoji activation, it's clear that the public likes its icons.

Unfortunately, the Emoji free for all may be over. Gary, from Typing Genius, e-mailed us this morning and he let us know that Apple is cracking down on Emoji activation outside of Japan. According to Gary, Apple is forbidding Emoji-only apps (Emotifun and iEmoji have both been removed from the App Store) and requiring developers for apps that do more than just Emoji (like Typing Genius -- iTunes link) to provide an Emoji-free update immediately.

In regards to Typing Genius, Gary says that:

* Existing Typing Genius users who have already unlocked emoji will not be affected when Apple remove apps from the App Store
* Emoji unlock will remain intact for users who upgrade to a newer version of Typing Genius (without the unlock) later on

So if you want to get your Emoji on, it's probably best to act sooner rather than later. Pictographs have been removed from the App Store. Oh, the humanity!

Thanks Gary

TUAWEmoji on its way out of the App Store originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Originally posted by Christina Warren from The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW), on February 27, 2009 9:15 AM

How FriendFeed uses MySQL to store schema-less data:

Very clever.

I completely agree with their underlying principle: MySQL with InnoDB is a mature, fast, manageable, high-integrity transactional storage engine. You don’t need to toss that out and start over with a young, untested product just because you want a different data structure. You can build a lot on top of it that isn’t necessarily the “normal” way to use it.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Marco.org, on February 27, 2009 7:42 AM

The New York Public Library is currently looking for proposals from developers to build a new set of homework help widgets for students aged 10-18. Widgets will include platform integration for iGoogle, Facebook, MySpace, blogs and web pages, and/or desktops. Functionality will include: finding and searching, list building, task management, events listings and real-time answers. We are looking for open source designs that can be made available to and repurposed by other organizations seeking to engage young people. The widgets will be developed as part of a 2008 National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services titled Homework NYC Widgets: A Decentralized Approach to Homework Help By Public Libraries.

RFP forms must be received by 5pm, March 17, 2009. Questions about the project and widget designs can be sent to Andrew Wilson, Digital Producer at The New York Public Library: ahwilson@nypl.org .

Originally posted by awilson from NYPL Labs, on February 27, 2009 7:29 AM

As the name suggests, the tiered tiffin carrier is comprised of stackable tiers of storage which can be laid out for all to enjoy. When you are done, you just stack 'em back up, lock the clasps, grab the handle and go. They are made out of a high quality stainless steel which makes them very sturdy yet quite light, and so easy to clean.

I am using the 4-tier tiffin, which holds enough food for my two kids, yet is small and light enough to carry everywhere. I also have a few 2-tiers which my kids take to school. Recently, I began taking my tiffins to pick-up my take-out orders. This beats using disposable items provided by the restaurant . My favorite take-out places are quite happy to oblige and love the concept.

Not all tiffins are the same. In my quest to find a stainless steel lunchbox, I tried a no-name brand tiffin sold through Amazon. It is poorly-designed, made from a poor quality stainless steel and it's massive. This new one I have is a perfect size (6.75 x 4.25 inches) and you can see the quality in the steel and workmanship. It's also less than half the price of fancier tiffins like the pyramid, which I'll admit looks pretty neat.

Tiffin Carrier
$20 - 4-tier
$15 - 3-tier
$12 - 2-tier
Available from Om Goods

Related Entries:
Mr. Bento Lunch Jar Laptop Lunchbox Stainless Steel Can Colander

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Cool Tools, on February 27, 2009 7:15 AM

An interview with Alissa Hamilton about her new book, Squeezed, reveals that that fresh orange juice you're buying might not be so fresh or even orange-y.

In the process of pasteurizing, juice is heated and stripped of oxygen, a process called deaeration, so it doesn't oxidize. Then it's put in huge storage tanks where it can be kept for upwards of a year. It gets stripped of flavor-providing chemicals, which are volatile. When it's ready for packaging, companies such as Tropicana hire flavor companies such as Firmenich to engineer flavor packs to make it taste fresh. People think not-from-concentrate is a fresher product, but it also sits in storage for quite a long time.

(thx, oli)

Tags: food squeezed books interviews alissahamilton

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on February 27, 2009 6:33 AM

Originally posted by Andrea from Andrea Harner, on February 27, 2009 6:21 AM

Ed Levine to my Mother:cute comments are allowed on this post.

Originally posted by David Jacobs from hello, typepad, on February 27, 2009 6:20 AM

Originally posted by Andrea from Andrea Harner, on February 27, 2009 6:18 AM

Originally posted by David Kurtz from Talking Points Memo, on February 27, 2009 5:28 AM

On March 11, I will be joining Jen Bekman (of 20x200), Nicholas Felton (of those cool personal annual reports), and Rebekah Hodgson (of Etsy) at the next Dot Dot Dot Lecture. We'll be talking about curating, aka that thing I do for a living.

Curatorial strategies are spilling out of galleries and museums and into our everyday design practices. As emphasis shifts from designer to consumer, the vital role of designer is often that of mediator, shaping ideas and content created by others into another user experience. How have these new pivots changed the role of designer from one of artisan to one of curator? Four lecturers speak to curation as a way of design life, and how their audiences learn from, are inspired by, and gain insights from it.

Come for the Felton, stay for the Bekman, and don't mind me, my talk's only 10 minutes long. (Actually, I just noticed that they're "sold out".)

Tags: nicholasfeltron jenbekman rebekahhodgson jasonkottke

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on February 27, 2009 5:18 AM

In honor of the Red Sox Spring Training game I'm attending tomorrow, let's hype John Frascella, the Long-Island-born-raised-stillliving-Mets-fan-writer who put together a book about Theo Epstein. It's in pre-release now, selling in kindleland, but I'm still all about bound paper. John and I have plans to sit down and chat. Until then I'l tell you this...he's an eater of chicken fingers who of course prefers Shea to Fenway.

Originally posted by Sara Pepitone from Scoreboard Gourmet, on February 27, 2009 5:00 AM

I followed the beat writers over to Field 6 this morning to listen as they spoke with Mike Piazza, who is coaching with Team Italy, who is in Tradition Field to take on the Mets B-squad team.

The minute he started talking I had a huge smile on my face, unable to not think of the late 90s.  I loved that team.

Also, he was drinking a tall Starbucks coffee, with wrap-around sunglasses, and still sporting the ‘duck tail, bushy hair. 

To me, he will be always be the definition of dorky-cool.

Piazza said he is using this experience to get his feet wet, and re-connect with the game of baseball, without the pressure of being a player, to see if he’d be interested in returning as coach at some point in his future.

Asked if he could one day return to the game as a coach, Piazza said, “I’m not gonna rule anything out.  I think this is a good first step, without a huge commitment.”

He fielded a few more questions and talked about Italy, his heritage, coaching and his family – then said, ‘Alright, guys, I’m gonna go watch batting practice,’ and wisely walked away before any one had the chance to ask him about other more topical subjects in the news.

Originally posted by Matthew Cerrone from MetsBlog.com, on February 27, 2009 4:40 AM

I now know who to thank for Kanye West's wondrous 808s and Heartbreak: his ex-fiancee Alexis Phifer. She's gotta be the Robocop, right? No short-term romance stings that bad.

Tags: kanyewest music alexisphifer

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on February 27, 2009 4:04 AM

Originally posted in ct2

This week I received two "author" notices from the Google Book Settlement office. One in the mailbox and one by email. The alerts were sent to book authors as a result of a dispute between Google and the Author Guild (I am not a member) over whether Google had the right to scan out of print books and post snippets of them online. The tussle was settled out of court, and the agreement is very complex. As far as I can tell Google caved in to unfair reductions to fair use (bad for the commons), but they gained some good things for Google -- and the public readers. In short it was compromise. Should the settlement be approved, it will mean that the vast library of out of print books that Google has been busy digitizing all along will finally reach the web. Hooray!

While I was registering my own authored books per the notices in the mail, I noticed that this agreement acknowledges the coming One Universal Book -- the "book" that consists of all book texts, hyperlinked to each other. The clerks call it the "Research Corpus." This would be the aggregate copy of all book texts, which Google wants to use for "research" purposes. Note that they are not offering this mega-copy to everyone, just to "qualified users." The existence and use of this aggregate copy of all books was the basis of the suite in the first place (the Authors Guild objected to Google having a copy of books without their permission), so Google won a little in now being able to use it for research. In the goodness of time, the universal book should be open to all.

For now, according to the FAQ for the Google Book Settlement:

The Research Corpus will be made available to "Qualified Users" solely for engaging in specific types of research, including:

* Computational analysis of the digitized images to either improve the image or extracting textual or structural information from the image;

* Extracting information to understand or develop relationships among or within Books;

* Linguistic analysis, to better understand language, linguistic use, semantics and syntax as they evolve over time and across genres of Books;

* Automated translation (without actually producing translations of Books for display purposes); and

*Developing new indexing and search techniques.

The research corpus, or the GoogleBook, will edge us toward the universal library. I sketched out one vision of that library in Scan This Book:

"When books are digitized, reading becomes a community activity. Bookmarks can be shared with fellow readers. Marginalia can be broadcast. Bibliographies swapped. You might get an alert that your friend Carl has annotated a favorite book of yours. A moment later, his links are yours. In a curious way, the universal library becomes one very, very, very large single text: the world's only book.

Once a book has been integrated into the new expanded library by means of this linking, its text will no longer be separate from the text in other books. For instance, today a serious nonfiction book will usually have a bibliography and some kind of footnotes. When books are deeply linked, you'll be able to click on the title in any bibliography or any footnote and find the actual book referred to in the footnote. The books referenced in that book's bibliography will themselves be available, and so you can hop through the library in the same way we hop through Web links, traveling from footnote to footnote to footnote until you reach the bottom of things.

So what happens when all the books in the world become a single liquid fabric of interconnected words and ideas? Four things: First, works on the margins of popularity will find a small audience larger than the near-zero audience they usually have now. Far out in the "long tail" of the distribution curve — that extended place of low-to-no sales where most of the books in the world live — digital interlinking will lift the readership of almost any title, no matter how esoteric. Second, the universal library will deepen our grasp of history, as every original document in the course of civilization is scanned and cross-linked. Third, the universal library of all books will cultivate a new sense of authority. If you can truly incorporate all texts — past and present, multilingual — on a particular subject, then you can have a clearer sense of what we as a civilization, a species, do know and don't know. The white spaces of our collective ignorance are highlighted, while the golden peaks of our knowledge are drawn with completeness. This degree of authority is only rarely achieved in scholarship today, but it will become routine.

Finally, the full, complete universal library of all works becomes more than just a better Ask Jeeves. Search on the Web becomes a new infrastructure for entirely new functions and services. Right now, if you mash up Google Maps and Monster.com, you get maps of where jobs are located by salary. In the same way, it is easy to see that in the great library, everything that has ever been written about, for example, Trafalgar Square in London could be present on that spot via a screen. In the same way, every object, event or location on earth would "know" everything that has ever been written about it in any book, in any language, at any time. From this deep structuring of knowledge comes a new culture of interaction and participation."

Originally posted by (author unknown) from KK Lifestream, on February 27, 2009 3:29 AM

Shared by Eve
hmm, looks like this got taken down. too bad.

If you work in the buggy whip business and somebody invents the automobile, you just have to accept that your job has become obsolete. You need to get out of it and re-tool your factory to make gloves or coats or exotic lingerie. Nobody needs or wants what you're selling, anymore. But this analogy has no application to the crisis that newspapers are facing. The Internet has challenged the...

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Mick LaSalle, on February 27, 2009 2:47 AM

Shared by Eve
He didn't talk about it today

The Future of Newspapers, Part 1

If you work in the buggy whip business and somebody invents the automobile, you just have to accept that your job has become obsolete.You need to get out of it and re-tool your factory to make gloves or coats or exotic lingerie. Nobody needs or wants what you're selling, anymore.

But this analogy has no application to the crisis that newspapers are facing.

The Internet has challenged the existence of newspapers, and yet Internet news and arts commentary runs and is founded on the journalism that people do at newspapers. Go to any of the popular sites and click on one of their headlines, and it will almost always take you to a newspaper web site -- or to a commentary based on news broken at a daily newspaper.

Meanwhile the web sites are thriving and the journalists who break the stories -- and whose work is in as much demand (or more demand) as ever -- are thought of as obsolete and face the very real possibility of being out of business. Even as the public devours the work of print journalists, you can find articles in magazines discussing the possibility of even the New York Times disappearing.

The problem is throughout the industry. At the beginning of this decade, the Chronicle was the 11th biggest daily in the United States, with a circulation topping out at 650,000. Today it has about half that circulation . . . and yet it's the 12th biggest daily in the United States.

Every newspaper is suffering, and today San Francisco faces the real possibility of soon being the first great American city, the first great arts and culture and population center, without a daily newspaper. And of course, if it happens here, it will happen elsewhere. This town is nothing if not a trend setter.

The newspaper business is up against two things:

1) More and more people are coming to enjoy sitting at the computer with a cup of coffee in the morning as much as they used to enjoy reading the physical paper at the breakfast table, like Ricky Ricardo in the 1950s.

2) More and more people have come to expect this as a free service, even though it's not free.

This is a recipe for oblivion: The newspaper business right now is one in which we offer our product for free on the street but say that if you want to come inside the store, the same product will cost you a dollar. Obviously, this won't work, and yet newspapers can't close down their own web sites, either, because other newspapers have web sites. And the web sites provide at least some revenue.

The bottom line is that people are not rejecting the product. They are rejecting either the traditional means of conveyance or the prospect of paying for it. So the question is, how do you get them to pay for it -- how do you find a workable, lucrative business model, taking in people's growing preference for the Internet -- before every newspaper disappears?

I think there may be a solution, but it will require legislation, an assist from technology and cooperation among the various newspaper organization.

I'll talk about it tomorrow.

Posted By: Mick LaSalle (Email) February 25 2009 at 06:58 AM

Originally posted by (author unknown) from 209.85.173.132, on February 27, 2009 2:47 AM

Shared by Eve
Ok, seriously, this is, what, three self pity articles on the gate today? Jesus.

A couple of years ago, when speaking to a local group, I mentioned that The Chronicle was losing money. A couple in the back of the room rudely applauded. How thrilled those two must have felt when - if - they learned of Chronicle Publisher Frank Vega's...

Originally posted by (author unknown) from SFGate: Chronicle Op-Ed, on February 27, 2009 2:47 AM

Look up and you’ll see the floriated, ornamented, shaded letters of the H&FJ logo (l. gravura tuscana), as well as an italic cousin used for the News, Notes & Observations nameplate. I have a special fondness for these kinds of letters, which reflect a synthesis of traditions from both typemaking and engraving. Is it therefore any wonder that I love these alphabet brooches from Bena Clothing, spotted by our friends at Design Sponge? They're made from laser-etched cheery veneer over mahogany, thoughtfully offered as set of 53 pieces with duplicates of popular letters. (I wonder how the frequency distribution of initials differs from that of other kinds of words: extra Js, I imagine?) —JH

Alphabet Brooches from Bena Clothing.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Hoefler & Frere-Jones, on February 26, 2009 11:15 PM

thechuckster:

Who Watches The Watchmen Music Video Network

A nice parody of the 1980s MTV programming.  Re: Fred

Originally posted by (author unknown) from shey.net, on February 26, 2009 5:12 PM

Pastiche [christianmarcschmidt.com] is a (downloadable) dynamic data visualization that maps keywords from blog articles to the New York neighborhoods they are written in reference to, geographically positioned in a navigable, spatial view. Keywords are assigned based on relevance and recency, surrounding their corresponding neighborhoods. The result is a dynamically changing description of the city, formed around individual experiences and perspectives.

Reminds me of the "typographic city" music video "The Child".

Originally posted by (author unknown) from information aesthetics, on February 26, 2009 4:39 PM

We've been following the endless Franken-Coleman Recount/Trial really, really closely over the almost four months since the November election. Wearing my hat as a publisher, you just can't get enough of the endless stream of antic, nonsensical and hilarious posts this story generates. I mean, how couldn't you with a race pitting a professional comic against a professional clown?

Anyway, Eric Kleefeld has been our reporter-blogger on this story from the beginning. And I was just leafing through his posts over recent days. And I felt a great deal of pride in the amazing job he's done. I don't think there's is any better, more detailed or more entertaining coverage of this story out there.

So, if you'd like to give Eric props, just click 'recommend' on this post to run up the number and of course you can always send emails to him at our comments address up on the upper right.

Originally posted by Josh Marshall from Talking Points Memo, on February 26, 2009 4:32 PM

Andy Baio on a team of volunteers in China who translate the entirety of each week’s Economist, and publish the work as a PDF:

It’s an impressive example of online collaboration with simple tools, a completely non-commercial effort by volunteers interested in spreading knowledge while improving their English skills. In the process, they’re taking a political risk in translating controversial articles about their homeland behind the Great Firewall.

 ★ 

Originally posted by John Gruber from Daring Fireball, on February 26, 2009 3:35 PM

Few cities consider themselves as progressive as San Francisco, so it's only slightly surprising to find out that officials there are considering limiting the use of "private cars" on Market Street in order to increase the flow of busses, pedestrians and cyclists.

While I don't live in San Fran, I spend more time there than any other big city, and I've done more riding there than any other metropolis, and I can scarcely count the number of times I've been almost struck and killed by vehicles on Market. I'm a pretty savvy urban cyclist but I go out of my way to avoid that thoroughfare while in the area.

Even suggesting that Market Street be made off-limits to cars is a massive move, it's akin to the idea of converting part of Manhattan's Broadway into a pedestrian mall and it's not likely to happen quickly. Still, the city is looking at plans to take the busiest two-mile stretch of roadway (from Van Ness to the Embarcadero) into a car-free zone.

Tilly Chang, deputy director of planning for the S.F. County Transportation Authority says of the project "having been a great street, Market Street has the scale, the social and historical significance, the architectural profile and the infrastructure, and hence the potential, to be great once again." Run-on sentences aside, that's a sweeping statement about a street that goes from posh shopping to porn-theater in under two blocks but it indicates San Francisco's desire to reclaim the streets from cars, and with that action reclaim the grandeur of the heart of the city.

For the next few months Ms. Chang's authority will look at problems that the restrictions would cause on nearby streets, (personally I think it would cause calamity for tons of motorists, which is exactly what author Tom Vanderbilt says is needed to move people to mass transit in his book Traffic, so I'm all for it.

While the plan, first suggested by mayor Willie Brown, died in its original incarnation, this time it seems to have (ahem) legs and might actually move forward as the mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom says he'd approve the changes if studies show that they wouldn't hurt businesses in the area. (You don't want to hurt the business at Market Street Cinemas after all.)

urban renewal

Originally posted by David Schloss from Bike Hugger, on February 26, 2009 2:16 PM

Each week we be round up our favorite posts and recipes from our friends at Apartment Therapy's blog The Kitchn.

This week, the Kitchn spotlights a kitchen island made of shopping carts, crafted by a San Francisco man. The carts were cut above the wheels, turned on-end, and re-welded.

Also on the Kitchn, the urge to open oven doors, Kentucky jam cake, why eggs get poofy when baked, and the deal with dates.

• Quick Tip: Keep the Oven Door Closed!: Oven temperatures can drop 150°F or more if the oven door is left open just thirty seconds. No peeking!
• Regional Specialty: Kentucky Jam Cake: Inspired by the book Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund, here's a look at the Southern cake that combines spices, jam, and caramel-y frosting.
• Food Science: Why Eggs "Rise" in the Oven: Oh, eggs. You tricky devils, you. The air bubbles in egg whites expand in ovens, which causes the whole network of egg proteins to lift ("rise") a dish like bread pudding.
• What's the Deal with Dates?: The shriveled brown stone fruits taste like they've been soaking in a barrel of sugar for eons. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Originally posted by Erin Zimmer from Serious Eats, on February 26, 2009 12:15 PM

The Coleman campaign may have just given away the store on a very important point in their challenge to the Minnesota election results -- conceding that missing ballots from the recount that were still included in the final numbers did in fact exist.

During the recount, a deep-blue Minneapolis precinct came up with over 130 less ballots than were counted on Election Night, costing Al Franken a net 46 votes. The city eventually concluded that an envelope full of ballots labeled "1 of 5" was missing. After it wasn't recovered, the state canvassing board agreed to revert to the Election Night total for this precinct, rather than disenfranchise these voters.

The Coleman campaign vowed to contest it in court. Their position had been that there was no evidence the ballots existed, citing an earlier hypothesis by the city that ballots might have counted twice by the machines on Election Night -- which the city had quickly discarded when the precinct roster nearly matched the number of Election Night votes. And even if they do exist, the Coleman camp has still said they can't be included in the recount.

Yesterday evening and this morning, lead Coleman lawyer Joe Friedberg questioned Minneapolis elections director Cindy Reichert, in an effort to show how secure the city's process is for handling ballots, and how thoroughly they looked for this envelope.

Then Franken lawyer David Lillehaug had Reichert rub together two envelopes just like the ones used to store the ballots -- they're slippery. And Reichert said there is a theory about what might have happened, though nobody can pin it down, that the "1 of 5" envelope may have been taken off the top of the stack, and somehow lost along the way.

Upon further questioning, Reichert confirmed that she is convinced beyond a doubt that the ballots were real, based on the precinct roster and other information, and have gone missing.

After a sidebar, Friedberg got up to speak. "We have no doubt that a number of ballots existed inside an envelope that has been lost," he said. "If it appears we're taking the position that these ballots have been invented, that's not our position." He added that they acknowledge that there were some ballots there, and they are now gone. "Does that help?"

To which Lillehaug answered: "It does."

At this point, Friedberg attempted to cast doubt on the reliability of the machine tapes and the precinct rosters to give true certainty that we know how many ballots are missing, a number that Reichert pegs at 132, or what the votes themselves were.

The Coleman camp may have just given up way too much. This past Monday night, the court denied Franken's motion for summary judgment on this -- but it was only because the existence of the ballots was still a point of factual contention in the case. Furthermore, the court acknowledged in their opinion the body of case law pointing to including the votes. But they had to settle the factual dispute.

If the facts are settled, this matter is over -- or at least it's over in this court. Next up will be the appeals.

Originally posted by Eric Kleefeld from TPM Election Central, on February 26, 2009 11:51 AM

By Aaron Naparstek

Before and After: A rendering of a car-free Broadway at 7th Ave., Times Square, looking north. Download a larger image.

New York City Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan unveiled plans to pedestrianize a large swath of Broadway in Midtown Manhattan at a small briefing in City Hall this morning. Intended to improve motor vehicle traffic flow, enhance safety and provide more and better public space to pedestrians, the plan seeks to solve what Sadik-Khan called a "problem hidden in plain sight for 200 years."

As the only Midtown street that pre-dates the 1811 street grid plan, Broadway "creates pinch points and traffic congestion as it traverses Manhattan crossing busy avenues," Sadik-Khan said. Extending from 59th Street at Columbus Circle to 23rd Street at Madison Square with substantial pedestrian-only areas at Times and Herald Squares, Mayor Bloomberg's plan for Broadway is, arguably, the boldest and most transformative street reclamation project since Portland, Oregon decided to tear down Harbor Drive in 1974.

Before and After: A rendering of a car-free Broadway at 6th Ave., Herald Square, looking south.
Download a larger image.


In addition to creating a vast swath of new pedestrian space in "pedlocked" Midtown, DOT estimates that the plan will reduce southbound motor vehicle travel times by 17 percent on 7th Avenue and northbound travel times by 37 percent on 6th Avenue. To measure the plan's effect, DOT will be closely monitoring a number of criteria including economic data. With numerous storefronts vacant and office and retail rental rates lagging behind other prime Midtown corridors, Broadway is currently "underperforming" by a number of economic measures, Sadik-Khan said. Based on experience in other cities, a more pedestrian-friendly Broadway should "get more people out on the street. They will buy more coffee and do more shopping."

Construction on the street redesign -- which is being presented as a pilot project and being built with temporary materials -- will start in May and continue through August, Sadik-Khan said. Work around Herald and Times Square will be done during the Memorial Day weekend to ease concerns about traffic congestion.

While Broadway's existing bike lane will remain intact it was, notably, de-emphasized in DOT's renderings. Broadway will now be considered a "pedestrian priority" street and Sadik-Khan said she expected the bike lane would mainly be used by tourists and pedicabs. The bicycle rental company Bike Roll is considering setting up a rental facility somewhere along the route. "Fast cyclists are not going to be interested in going through this. Messengers will be directed to use 7th Avenue," she said.

This piece originally appeared on Streetsblog.org

Image credits: NYC Department of Transportation

Help us change the world - DONATE NOW!

(Posted by WorldChanging Team in Urban Design and Planning at 1:51 PM)

Originally posted by WorldChanging Team from Worldchanging: Bright Green, on February 26, 2009 11:51 AM

Of the world's 7,000 languages, 40 percent are on their way to extinction, with the last fluent speaker of a language dying once every two weeks.

Every two weeks? Wow. That's from an article in Seed magazine about a PBS show airing tonight called The Linguists.

The Linguists is a hilarious and poignant chronicle of two scientists -- David Harrison and Gregory Anderson -- racing to document languages on the verge of extinction. In Siberia, India, and Bolivia, the linguists confront head-on the very forces silencing languages: racism, humiliation, and violent economic unrest. David and Greg's journey takes them deep into the heart of the cultures, knowledge, and communities at risk when a language dies.

Tags: thelinguists movies language

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on February 26, 2009 10:46 AM

We saw the sign for Smoked Corn. We were curious. We bought an ear. $4. We took it to our seats. We peeled back the husk. The kernels were half burnt in the sort of way that deflates and dehydrates the meat. We bit at the other side. It wasn't bad. Smoky. Probably would have been better if the corn was fat. Let's discuss.

Originally posted by Sara Pepitone from Scoreboard Gourmet, on February 26, 2009 9:13 AM

When we introduced the Following feature for Blogger last fall, we wanted to help you connect with fans of your own blog and discover communities of people who share your interests. It has been exciting to see Following grow over the past few months, to say the least. With nearly three million communities of followers on Blogger blogs, and with one person following a blog every second, we've been looking for ways to help these communities continue to thrive.

As a first step toward that goal, today we are integrating the Blogger Following feature with Google Friend Connect. Not only does this make it easier for anyone to follow a Blogger blog, but also it gives your blog expanded visibility across the web as your followers join other sites and share their activities with their friends.

Blogger joins an open network of websites already using Friend Connect and visitors can now follow any Blogger blog by signing in with their Google, Yahoo, AOL, or OpenID credentials. The blogs that readers start to follow will appear alongside the other Friend Connect sites they've already joined. Additionally, you can find some new blogs and websites to join by checking out the profiles of other followers.

This video shows you how to follow a blog:



If you have a Blogger blog and you're already using the Followers gadget, you don't need to do anything to get these new features up and running — we've already migrated all of the existing Followers gadgets to the new version with Friend Connect. To learn more, visit our blog post on Blogger Buzz.

Posted by Mendel Chuang, Product Marketing Manager, Google Friend Connect

Originally posted by A Googler from The Official Google Blog, on February 26, 2009 9:10 AM

Productivity Guru Gina Trapani Balances Blogging, Coding, Community MediaShift, CA And Anil Dash who was at Six Apart [which makes the Movable Type blog platform]. They became my idols. I met Anil at a party through a friend, and Meg put out a call for interns at Kinja, and I said I would work basically for free just to be around ...

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Google News - Anil Dash, on February 26, 2009 8:39 AM

As an experiment, parts of Broadway near Times Square and Herald Square will be entirely closed to cars for most of the rest of the year.

Although it seems counterintuitive, officials believe the move will actually improve the overall flow of traffic, because the diagonal path of Broadway tends to disrupt traffic where it intersects with other streets.

The streets will become pedestrian malls instead. Love this.

Tags: traffic cities nyc

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on February 26, 2009 7:49 AM

Offered without additional comment is a transcript of the Ad Age video of Peter Arnell from Omnicom's Arnell Group introducing the (now pulled) Tropicana packaging back in January.

We started on a journey approximately five months ago to try to give a new refreshed, a new energy to Tropicana. We thought it would be very very important to bring this brand, to evolve it to a more current or modern state. Emotionally it was very very difficult, and it still remains difficult for everyone to grasp the importance of that change because it's so dramatic.

Historically we always showed the outside of the orange. What was fascinating was that we had never shown the product called the juice. There was a strong drive to bring big messaging on to the carton where the biggest single billboarding was.

Having said that we wanted to take the orange and put it somewhere. We engineered this interesting little squeeze cap here (which you guys can come up and see after) so that the notion of squeezing the orange was implied ergonomically every day when you actually went to the actual carton. The skin of the orange is replicated on the cap, and tooled in to the cap. The idea, of course, is to have a consistency between the purity of the juice (which is coming directly from the orange), the cap (which you squeeze every day), and, of course, the carton.

The reason why that's all important is because, of course, "squeeze" also maintains a certain level of power when it comes to this notion emotionally about what "squeeze" means -- like "my squeeze" or "gimme a squeeze" or the notion of a hug, or the ideas behind the power of love and the idea of transferring that love, or converting the attitude between mom and the kids, right?

Originally posted by Michael Sippey from this is sippey.typepad.com, on February 26, 2009 7:22 AM

Reader of the blog Melissa recently sent me this question:

I tore a ligament in my ankle a few months ago and have been sporting white, ever-so-lovely athletic tape on a daily basis since. This hasn't been an issue during winter, the season for multiple layers of opaque tights, but the season for wearing dresses and skirts without attracting weird looks is coming up soon. Not only that, but I have a few occasions coming up very quickly where I need to wear a dress in slightly fancier circumstances (where neither heavy winter tights nor knee-high boots, my winter solutions, are appropriate).

On a daily basis, I have white tape reaching in a semi-spiral half-way up my shin. It wouldn't be as much of an issue, but I'm a 23-year-old student and have to worry about things like making good impressions at job interviews and as I try to get into grad school. Unfortunately, just leaving the tape off isn't one of the available solutions! And, as I mentioned before, there are occasions where I will be expected to wear skirts or dresses.

Do you or your readers have any suggestions about how best to rise to the challenge?

I let this sit in my inbox for a while because I didn't know how to answer it. It's not that I didn't have any suggestions for covering the tape; it's that I didn't have good suggestions for getting Melissa to stop WANTING to cover the tape, and I think that's the real problem. It's totally natural to want to hide anything that might stand out, or call unwanted attention to yourself, or that seems like a flaw. However ... NOT covering things up is, long-term, the better solution.

I don't want to be all "Disabilities give you strength!" because, frankly, that is the kind of bullshit able-bodied people tell themselves to feel better. It sucks not to have full use of your body. That's just true. (With the possible exception of being Deaf, which if you are raised in a Deaf community, doesn't seem to be as bad -- but then again, I'm not Deaf, so what do I know?)

However, any kind of difference gives you the opportunity to learn how to deal graciously with weird looks and clueless people, and THAT is a life skill whose importance cannot be overestimated. And luckily for Melissa, her White Tape of Difference is purely temporary -- she doesn't face the grinding prospect of a lifetime of people asking "How'd you do THAT?" or saying "Wow, that looks like it hurt," and so on. So you practice your "Oh, thanks for asking!" response (the one that doesn't actually answer anyone's question) and remind yourself that just because someone asks you a question, You Don't Actually Owe Anyone An Answer.

It also helps you realize that Really, Honestly, Nobody is Looking That Hard. When you go out of the house with white tape, or a honking big zit, or a birthmark, or so on, you soon realize that for every person giving you the double-take look, there are four, or five, or ten who casually glance your way and never think of you again. Ever.

So, my advice to Melissa is not to worry about how the taped ankle looks. It looks fine. (Remember, you don't owe anyone pretty, either.) And if I were interviewing someone for a job (something I've done a fair bit of) or grad school (something I've never done), I'd be perfectly fine with it, and I'd probably give extra points to someone who dealt with it in a natural and matter-of-fact way, instead of apologizing for it: e.g., "I recently injured my ankle (or use a cane, or have a service animal, or whatever); are there elevators at the interview site? Could you please arrange for me to have extra time between interviews? Thank you for your consideration in this matter."

(Melissa, you can also use this as a way to screen OTHER PEOPLE: anybody who is a jerk or dismissive about your injury or disability is a person you do not want to work for or go be a student of. Believe me. Life's too short.)

So, this may not be the answer you wanted, Melissa, but it's the only one I've got. Good luck!

Originally posted by Erin from A Dress A Day, on February 26, 2009 7:06 AM

Gwyneth Paltrow Defends Her Web Site - Gwyneth Paltrow : People.com.

Gwyneth Paltrow is taking on critics of her lifestyle Web site, Goop.com, just days after The New York Times published an article questioning the site's relevance in light of a barrage of published swipes against its cardio-workout and pizza-recipe content.... "I think the people who are criticizing it or criticizing the idea of it, don't really get it, because if they did, they would like it," Paltrow, 36, told PEOPLE Wednesday night...

Adriana has been cooking a lot of GOOP recipes the past month to great effect. Gwyneth, if you are googling yourself,  we get it!

Originally posted by David Jacobs from hello, typepad, on February 26, 2009 6:36 AM

“Zuck was — remarkably! — unphased by this line of thinking and went ahead and built Facebook, and just to prove how useless everything we teach about efficiency and careful software design in CS161 really is, he implemented it in PHP. And it worked. Oh yeah, and he managed to grow the site to over 175 million users. So clearly I know pretty much zip when it comes to figuring out what a good startup business strategy is going to be, which explains why I should remain safely ensconced in my office at Harvard.”

- Matt Welsh, one of Mark Zuckerberg’s CS professors

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Marco.org, on February 26, 2009 5:58 AM

Upper West Side: Upper West Siders: you'll need to seek out a new place for seafood and fresh oysters. Over the last 24 hours half a dozen readers have written in to report that Dock's Oyster Bar on Broadway between 89th and 90th has shuttered. According to the reports, they were packing up yesterday, while ice and oysters still sat on the raw bar. Today moving vans idle outside the restaurant, and a sign in the window thanks customers for their years of patronage and asks them to visit their East Side location on 40th and 3rd.
· Shutter Confirmations: Anita Lo's Bar Q Definitely Doneski [~E~]
· Dealfeed: Dock's Oyster Bar [~E~]
[Photo Credit]

Originally posted by Amanda from Eater, on February 26, 2009 4:50 AM

Here's a first look at Herald Square with a pedestrianized Broadway, part of a plan reported by the Times, Daily News and Post this morning. Starting as soon as this spring, Broadway will turn pedestrian-only from 47th Street to 42nd Street, and on a two-block stretch on each side of 34th Street. The rest of Broadway from Columbus Circle to Madison Square will get boulevard treatment similar to the changes implemented on an eight-block stretch last summer. Auto traffic will be permitted at cross streets.

The city is calling this a trial project to be evaluated at the end of the year. DOT expects the changes to reduce crashes and injuries while allowing vehicle traffic to flow more smoothly on Sixth and Seventh Avenues. More details to come. For now, enjoy the view.

Originally posted by Ben Fried from Streetsblog, on February 26, 2009 4:50 AM

"This New York Fashion Week appeared to reflect the reality of an accountant in a box which he's been locked inside for 100 years." - Fake Karl, in an interview with Paper.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Fashionista, on February 26, 2009 4:41 AM

• A Modest Proposal for the Seattle Times « ReJurno
  now this idea for collaborative local journalism is interesting
  (tags: journalism)
• Another Google service bites the dust - Shared Stuff - NYTimes.com
  Goodbye SharedStuff I didn't realize I knew you.
  (tags: google del.icio.us social_media)
• How an NYT developer built a new way to read the news online » Nieman Journalism Lab » Pushing to the Future of Journalism
  interesting
  (tags: journalism innovation)
• Michael Wolff: Paranoid, Sleazy New York Times Is Ripping Us Off
  Interesting post and rant. also like this comment "So Newser's ability to display a bunch of news stories at a glance based on your tastes for very hard versus very soft is great. Newser's belief that users are just looking for the perfect two graf capsule that boils down a rich, interesting bit of storytelling has been disproven again and again by every company that's tried to substitute filtering for actual content. " I've put the words "curator and aggregator" into a bunch of mouths who are now trying to make a living and run companies doing it, but I'm changing my mind a bit on the value proposition for the aggregated. The NYT doesn't need newser or the Huffington Post as much as they need them. Still thinking about it and where I stand on it.
  (tags: media aggregator)
• 'We're All Gonna Die - 100 meters of existence'
  very cool 100 meter long photograph represented online with a great scrolling interface (via coolhunting.com)
  (tags: photography panorama inspiration)
• YouTube - GtrWorkShp's Channel
  okay time to get serious about my fingerpicking aspirations
  (tags: guitar video music lessons)

Originally posted by joshua mack from Joshua Mack's DefinitiveInk, on February 26, 2009 4:14 AM

If I’m reading this cryptic Beckett article right, then the Tim Beckham Obak mni cards come one a master case while the regualr version comes one a mini case.  If that’s correct, I’ll never have either one of them in my collection unless Beckham flames out big time. 

I’d love to see a complete set in this design though.  Even if it is from Tristar. 

It makes me wonder if I’ll ever get tired of these vintage designs.

Originally posted by handcollated from Hand Collated, on February 26, 2009 4:10 AM

The Mets take on the Marlins in Port St. Lucie tomorrow at 1:10 pm, which you can watch live on SNY.

…this was always my favorite day of the spring, when the Mets would re-appear on my television set for the first time all spring… usually the game was on a Saturday, thankfully, and Ch. 9 would open up with the image of a carton of grapefruit being opened… this, to me, was the official start of spring, regardless of how cold it may have been in Connecticut…

The game will be re-aired at 7 pm on SNY.

Here is today’s lineup, I kid you not:

2B Luis Castillo
RP Oliver Perez
SS Jose Reyes
1B Carlos Delgado
3B David Wright
OF Carlos Beltran
OF Ryan Church
OF Daniel Murphy
C Brian Schneider

…hilarious… though, obviously, it’s to guarantee perez an at-bat before being taken out of the game, in what is typically an early exit for such an early spring start…

Originally posted by Matthew Cerrone from MetsBlog.com, on February 26, 2009 3:40 AM

From Recipes

Editor's note: We are thrilled to welcome back Serious Eats Italian bureau chief and Babbo pastry chef, Gina DePalma. Not only is she one of the best pastry chefs on the planet but a gifted writer as well. These days she's back in New York City, but this week she needed to channel her inner Italian spirit through this pasta alla gricia. Take it away, Gina!

Carbonara, Cacio e Pepe, Amatriciana and Gricia: If you spend any extended time in Rome, these four pasta dishes are sure to become familiar and beloved friends. Together they form the backbone of primi choices at every trattoria in the Eternal City, where the locals have strong, vocal opinions on where to find the best execution of each, never all at one place.

Each recipe bows to the Roman palate, where Pecorino Romano is favored over Parmigiano-Reggiano and guanciale is preferred to pancetta. There are only five or six additional ingredients needed to make all four dishes, and I learned that my Roman friends keep these components on hand at all times, ready to turn a chance encounter on the street into an impromptu meal at home, "Come upstairs for dinner, cara. I’ll make us some Amatriciana." Really? You don’t have to run to the store first?

Pasta alla Gricia is the least-known member of the group, but hands down my favorite. I can’t think of a better delivery vehicle for pasta than a perfect balance of cured pork and cheese, so here's a primer on how to make this Roman classic.

The first and most important step to making authentic pasta alla gricia is starting with the right ingredients. I'm sorry, but I have to be a purist here and insist on guanciale, or cured pork jowl, which has a unique, intensely piggy flavor, and Pecorino Romano, the hard, tangy grating cheese made from sheep’s milk. With so few components at play, substitutions are not minor. Pancetta and Parmigiano will make a tasty dish, but you cannot call it alla gricia, for the simple reason that their flavors are quite different.

The same goes for add-ins, so there should be no garlic used here, nor any onion, herbs, or wine. No. None. Nooooooo.

I've seen these ingredients included in some recipes, but in Rome this is a deal breaker—as much of an affront as tossing frozen peas or heavy cream into Carbonara. Creative license is allowed, however, when it comes to the pasta. I’ve enjoyed bucatini, spaghetti, ditalini, mezze rigatoni, penne, and even gnocchi served alla Gricia, and they all work just fine.

You’ll need about 1 1/2 to 2 ounces of guanciale and two tablespoons of grated Pecorino Romano for every four ounces of dried pasta. Begin by bringing your well-salted pasta water to a boil. While the water is heating, slice the guanciale thinly into narrow strips, wide ribbons, or even a fine dice, the cut can depend on how you want the guanciale to mingle with the pasta you’ve chosen. (I like to bite into my guanciale, so I chose the ribbons.)

Sizzle, sizzle.

Place the guanciale in a cold sauté pan with a tablespoon or two of olive oil and place over medium heat; the olive oil helps to render the fat evenly and acts as a conduit, transferring the flavor from the pan to the pasta.

Drop the pasta into the water as you slowly sauté the guanciale. The goal here is to slowly soften the fat, keeping it translucent; avoid letting it turn brown and crisp, or the pleasure of biting into those soft, juicy, fatty parts will be lost. When the guanciale has softened, add a small splash of water from the pasta pot.

Lower the heat, and keep dribbling in spoonfuls of pasta cooking water as it evaporates, just enough to keep the guanciale moist. The starchy water is a key element to the finished dish; it combines with the fat to form the "sauce" for the pasta.

When the pasta reaches that perfectly al dente texture, scoop out about a cup of the cooking water and set it aside. Quickly drain your pasta and add it to the pan, then turn up the heat and listen for some sizzle. Toss the pasta vigorously, coating it with the guanciale and rendered fat, and add a small splash of the reserved pasta cooking water if necessary to bring it all together.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the grated Pecorino Romano cheese, but avoid the temptation to add too much. The cheese is there to help bind the guanciale to pasta and add that perfect, sheep-y backnote. Grind some black pepper into the pan, toss well and serve immediately on a heated plate.

Ecco! There you have it: simplicity, balance and harmony on a plate. Enjoy it with a glass of wine from the Castelli Romani, if you can. Once you’ve mastered Pasta alla Gricia, you’re on the right path. Add an egg, and you’ve got Carbonara; take away the guanciale, add more cheese, black pepper and pasta water for Cacio e Pepe; incorporate sliced onion and tomato for a fine Amatriciana. Buon Apetito!

Guanciale

You can order fantastic, authentic guanciale from Salumi Artisan Cured Meats in Seattle, or Murray’s Real Salami in New York.

Originally posted by Gina DePalma from Serious Eats, on February 26, 2009 3:30 AM

German Stowaway Subcrew Skateboarder (via Lucius Young’s photostream)

Original NYPL photo (on Flickr)

See more remixes from across the Flickr Commons in the Commons Discussion group thread, Re-mix! Mashing up the Commons your way…

On a somewhat related note, tonight’s sold-out “Live from the NYPL” event (co-sponsored by WIRED) with Lawrence Lessig, Shepard Fairey and others looks like it’ll be a quite interesting exploration of these themes by some folks who are in the thick of it.

More on the event here: Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy.

Originally posted by Joe Dalton from NYPL Labs, on February 26, 2009 3:28 AM

Sign Outside Amy Sacco's Shuttered Bette

· Stalled Whole Foods Gowanus Back in Action [BP]
· Missouri Chef Cooks at the Source of Major Meat Purveyor for NYC, SF, etc. [NYT]
· Simon Sips Debuts Brunch Under $10 [TONY]
· Studio B's New Management Vows to Turn it Around [BP]
· Trouble Redeeming Quiznos Coupons [Consumerist]
· Schnipper’s Falls Short of "Shackdom" [TFB]
· Best Fast Food Breakfasts [NYDN]
· Successful Lounges Seek to Acquire "Distressed" Ones [Craigslist]

Originally posted by Kelly Dobkin from Eater, on February 26, 2009 3:16 AM

Bottle Rocket
Originally uploaded by finn.

Mike Monteiro, please do not forget friend Finn and his fan ♫ღ Ameer Macro ♫ღ, who initially brought the golden unicorn into our Internet kingdom.

Originally posted by David Jacobs from hello, typepad, on February 26, 2009 3:14 AM

If you were planning to read each chapter of Jim Bouton's Ball Four on the corresponding day in the book starting at the point where he reports to Pilots Spring Training in Tempe, today is the day to start reading.


If you don't have a copy of the book it should be available at your local bookstore, provided the shop is not run by godless communist terrorists who hate America and gleefully kick puppies with malice aforethought. If your book merchant is in fact unpatriotic (or simply sold out of copies due to the incredible demand) you'll just have to order it online and try to catch up.

That is all.

Originally posted by dayf from Cardboard Junkie, on February 26, 2009 3:00 AM

Shared by Eve
This is a blog post from someone who was doing some really cool stuff at the Chronicle when I got there, then seemed to, I dunno, get scared and conservative and crusty. Read this post to see what I mean. (Full disclosure: I think she did not like me, which made me sad because I liked her. Don't you hate that?)

In the summer of 1988, between my junior and senior years at the University of Delaware, I was a reporting intern at the Wilmington News Journal. One day, an editor came over to my desk and said, "Have you ever done a 'dying baby' story?" I looked at her stupidly and she said, "If you're going to be a reporter, you have to learn how to do a dying baby story. Here."

She handed me a piece of paper with some names and phone numbers on it. It was a couple with a 3-year-old girl in the final stages of a rare, fatal disease. They wanted their daughter to be able to die in her bed at home, but because the father's employer had switched health insurance providers and the new one didn't want to pay for the equipment they would need in their home, they were stuck. They were reaching out to the newspaper -- and unbeknownst to them, to me -- for help.

Twenty-one years later, as I thought of that story while driving home from work at yet another newspaper, I could still remember her name: Adrienne Merganthaler. I want to say her parents were John and Marianne.

I visited the Merganthalers and Adrienne in the hospital. And I called the insurance companies. And I wrote a story about an everyday couple who could be in your family, in your neighborhood, in your church, who didn't want an insurance company to pay for extraordinary measures to keep their daughter alive. They were realistic. They were human. They were parents. They just wanted their little girl not to be scared in her last days. To be home with her family -- there was an older sister, I believe.

And guess what? The day the story was published, both of the insurance companies called the newspaper. They were fighting over which one would get to pay to bring Adrienne home. And so it was that Blue Cross paid for Adrienne to come home and die in her own bed.

I did that.

A college classmate of mine, Dino Ciliberti, said to me once that he chose to go into journalism to help people. At the time, I thought, "Then be a doctor." But I would go on to learn that he was right: newspapers (in my case The San Francisco Chronicle) can help people.

The reason I was thinking of this story was twofold: Yesterday, our editor stood before the newsroom and told us some grim news. The newspaper is losing too much money. Many of us will be laid off, and if we can't turn the situation around -- and quickly -- the paper will be put up for sale. And if no buyer can be found (keep in mind that when Hearst bought The Chronicle back in 2000, it had to pay the Fang family $66 million to take the Examiner off its hands), we would close.

I don't know if I was the only one who began to cry, but I cried longest. And I don't cry. The last time I cried like this was when my dad died in 2005.

Of course, we published a story about the news. It generated vicious comments online attacking the newspaper. And people were quoted on TV saying, "It doesn't matter because I get my news online."

Exactly who do you think gathers that news, vets it and delivers it to you online? Without The Chronicle, there is no SF Gate, one of the top 10 most visited news sites in the country.

Adrienne also came to mind because I was rushing home to edit a story by one of our most talented reporters, Carolyn Said, who covers real estate. (I was going to do it from home so I could let me dog out before her bladder burst.)

You've probably heard about that guy Obama, and his housing rescue plan? Well, it turns out that many Bay Area homeowners won't qualify for relief because our loans are so large. Carolyn, being the veteran, trusted journalist she is, outlined this in her analysis of Obama's plan. And U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier read it. And amended Obama's plan so that more homeowners in the Bay Area will be able to keep their homes.

The bill is set to be approved tomorrow. Because of a newspaper reporter.

You're welcome.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Just a Girl in San Francisco, on February 26, 2009 12:30 AM

Meredith Stern Foraging For Food $100 Two bearish kitties run through the woods picking hen of the woods mushrooms in the fall. This is a print about eating local, eating free, in the environment where you live. We collected several baskets of hen of the woods mushrooms this year out in the park where we live, and they are the most tasty, amazing mushrooms I've ever eaten. They live at the base of oak trees, so the oak leaves play a prominent role in this print. They make an excellent soup stock. Color is a little varied from this photo, I had a hard time getting an accurate photo with the correct coloring, so in actuality the print is a little more orange-ish than it appears. Reduction Cut Linoleum Block Print signed, numbered edition 24" x 36"

Originally posted by Meredith Stern from Just Seeds, on February 25, 2009 5:09 PM

Jurassic Web in Slate, subtitle: "The Internet of 1996 is almost unrecognizable compared with what we have today."

What did people do online back when Slate launched? After plunging into the Internet Archive and talking to several people who were watching the Web closely back then, I've got an answer: not very much.

To which I say: bullshit.

The World Wide Web was an invigorating, compelling and, frankly, amazing place in 1996. Innovations were fast, furious and quickly adopted. Clever people did clever things and pretty much everyone noticed, because "everyone" was a rather small and curious community.

I know. I was there. Not "watching," like the folks Slate's reporter Farhad Manjoo spoke to, but creating. Designing. Exploring. Sharing. And, pretty much daily, blown away.

The Internet of 1996 was certainly nothing like today's experience. But to suggest there wasn't much to do is to ignore everything that was being done.

There was no iTunes; but there were MP3s, and .wav files, and sharing was just as exciting (and covert). There was no glut of information, not yet; but there were unbelievably good reads and finds, large and small, like Suck and HotWired and 0sil8. Tools for online creation were primitive, but that didn't stop people like me from hand-coding HTML and slicing together animated GIFs frame by frame and putting amazing works online.

No Yahoo Mail? So what? I was sending email with Eudora over high-speed connections back in 1991. And I first used instant messaging in 1992, on an old Mac running OS 7, when young Farhad was still in middle school. Which is not to be a grumpy old man, but to make the point he misses: the Internet wasn't hamstrung back then. It was just different.

I dare say 1996 was, in certain ways, more interesting online than 2009. The Web was still the great unknown. People didn't know what to make of it, but they knew it was radical and fascinating. It was the future, happening in real time.

Today the Internet is a mature medium that has become more sophisticated almost non-stop since the early days of its commercialization. But to call its initial era boring is to miss the real story. The Internet has never been boring. Those of us who were there in 1996, shaping what so many people now consider normal, know the truth.

Originally posted by David Wertheimer from Ideapad, on February 25, 2009 4:47 PM

We like to make important news entertaining too. So we've been having a lot of fun with Sir Allen Stanford, the Brit-wannabe, cricket-promoting, mega-defrauding Texas high flyer whose mutlinational empire has crashed and burned into oblivion over ... what, the last week or so. But there's a part of this story I'd be remiss not to have mentioned.

In addition to all the individuals Stanford scammed he's also managed to completely upend an entire small country: Antigua.

It was Antigua that knighted Sir Allen, which I guess they can do since they're a member of the Commonwealth and have Elizabeth II as their head of state. (He also acquired Antiguan citizenship.) But it goes much further than that. It was Antigua where Stanford located all his off-shore bank shenanigans. But he had so many different operations going on down there (a recent report said that he was "a chief financier of government projects" in the island) that he and his businesses were the second biggest employer in the country after the Antiguan government.

Now, I have an affinity for the place because I've been there three times. Not that I'm some big Caribbean island hopper or world traveller. It's the only place that I've ever been in the Caribbean. But I've been there three times. So I know the place a bit. And Stanford's flameout has completely upended the whole place because he had made himself such a player there. As a funny illustration, a few days ago I went to the website of the local newspaper, the Antigua Sun, to try to find out the latest on what was happening down there. And I couldn't find anything about it, which struck me as weird. And then I dug a little deeper to discover that ... well, the Antigua Sun is owned by Sir Allen. So maybe that explains it.

The country has been hit by a major banking panic, not surprisingly. And the entire population has been in a panic over what's going to happen to the country. Today the government announced that it is confiscating the land that Sir Allen owns in the island "to protect the national economy." And that makes me wonder if more of that might be afoot because a few days ago the Prime Minister revealed that the government of Antigua owes Stanford "more than $100 million."

Originally posted by Josh Marshall from Talking Points Memo, on February 25, 2009 3:28 PM

Roger Ebert takes a stand against snark:

Snarking is cultural vandalism. I have arrived at this conclusion belatedly. I have been guilty of snarking, and of enjoying snarks. In the matter of snarking, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But it has grown entirely out of hand. It is time to put away childish things. I must restore my balance, view the world in a fair way, hope to inspire more appreciation than ridicule. No doubt there will always be a role for snarking, given the proper target and an appropriate venue, and I reserve the right to snark when it is deserved, as in certain movie reviews. But in general I must become more well-behaved.

I see snark as dismissing people or things on the basis of style rather than engaging on matters of substance, and I’m just as guilty of it as anyone. Last night’s speech by Bobby Jindal is a perfect example. The instant reaction on the Internet was that it was the “Kenneth the Page” speech (referring to the character on 30 Rock). But the atrociousness of the delivery aside, the text of the speech was even worse. And it’s more important to confront that than it is to dismiss Jindal for giving a bad speech.

Ebert’s post on snark comes on the heels of John Hodgman’s attack on “meh” on Twitter. I think Hodgman would say that “meh” is for people too lazy to snark.

I wonder if the seriousness of the times are leading to a rejection of the flip and dismissive. It could also be that a new President sets a new tone. Barack Obama is consistently earnest, and I wonder whether he’s leading people to generally take things more seriously. I’ll be interested to see whether this trend expands.

Originally posted by Rafe from rc3.org, on February 25, 2009 3:28 PM

Colleen and I went to Geneva, NY to pay a visit to the Food Research Lab for Cornell University. She was giving a talk about our involvement with the Las Mingas project. We will be giving our own presentation this coming weekend, check it out!

View the full gallery

Originally posted by Gabe Boscana from Gimme! Coffee News, on February 25, 2009 2:28 PM

My first homemade business card when I left design school looked like this:

10 years later my business card is a bit less crafty, but it does have something in common with that first card, a concern with designing for anything that moves. My current card identifies me as an Experience Designer.

In my initial vision of design for anything that moves, my passion was for designing things that change, transition, evolve during the time that people spend with them. The field was younger then, and I was immersed in creating all sorts of digital artifacts with time lines, from broadcast design to game design to narrative-based interaction design. “Anything that moves” was the right level of specificity to encompass all of these interests. (It was also a bit of a cheeky play on a magazine around at that time which explored a different sort of unbounded openness, Anything That Moves.)

Currently, in the design community, there is a bunch of discussions raging about what is an experience, how is an experience made and can an experience be designed, especially by someone called an experience designer. At the end of the day, I don’t feel so strongly about what anyone chooses to call themselves and even how they describe what they do.

For me, the word experience has been a proxy for things that people participate in, and with, that take place over time–experience design, then, for things that work to move, to dance with people through the time lines of their lives.

Thus, when I think about experience, I imagine what we take with us, what we leave behind, and that layer of soapy film that can never be fully washed off.

It does matter to me, that we, as designers, care about the role of time in our designs for people. We need to care about the first time, the last time, that one time, and every time. We need to care about free time, personal time, family time, spending time, and wasting time.

Experiences may be things that at the end of the day, only people can determine. That said, I’m not willing to abdicate my responsibility at the moment of the first bite. Like it or not, the after taste is also partly mine to imagine, invent, and participate in.

In these, the worst of times and perhaps the best of times, there is much to contribute. Very few designs are timeless.

Originally posted by Paula Wellings from Adaptive Path, on February 25, 2009 1:43 PM

Shared by ginevra
LOL Jindal, you crazy fucker.

NRO's Corner has gone quiet. And the Fox News folks cannot even begin to find the right spin:

BRIT HUME: “The speech read a lot better than it sounded. This was not Bobby Jindal’s greatest oratorical moment.”

NINA EASTON: “The delivery was not exactly terrific.”

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: “Jindal didn’t have a chance. He follows Obama, who in making speeches, is in a league of his own. He’s in a Reagan-esque league. … [Jindal] tried the best he could.”

JUAN WILLIAMS: “It came off as amateurish, and even the tempo in which he spoke was sing-songy. He was telling stories that seemed very simplistic and almost childish.”

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Good People Better Rise Up!, on February 25, 2009 11:23 AM

If you made it out to Times Open last Friday, you already know what the Times Newswire API is: An up-to-the-minute stream of links and metadata for items published on NYTimes.com.

Originally posted by By Andrzej Lawn from Open, on February 25, 2009 11:20 AM

Open mic for suggestions on how Bobby Jindal can salvage his national political career after last night's flame out.

David Corn says he probably needs to try to get booked on Leno.

Whaddya got?

Late Update: Weirdly enough, as TPM Reader KR points out, Jindal actually did go on Leno while he was trying out to be McCain's veep and he actually didn't come off as a cartoonish tool.

Latter Update: A number of readers argue that Jindal should actually do a guest spot on 30 Rock, doing an imitation of the Kenneth character he was channeling last night. Candidly, I think Leno would be a stronger career move. But when you think about the Palin/Tina Fey thing, you could see some uncanny harmonic convergence possibilities with Jindal having his own 30 Rock doppelganger and sort of reversing the trajectory.

Originally posted by Josh Marshall from Talking Points Memo, on February 25, 2009 11:08 AM

From the inbox: "Gail Simmons is now following you on Twitter!" [EaterWire]

Originally posted by Amanda from Eater, on February 25, 2009 11:01 AM

According to an article from Serious Eats, below are some actual fortunes that elementary school kids wrote and stuffed into custom fortune cookies for a school fundraiser. 

A big whale falls from the sky and squashed you until you’re pretty much dead. Not completely dead, but pretty much.

In five minutes, you will be attacked by a pear. It will eat you because you were going to eat it.

There’s a lake with a unicorn sitting in short grass. The unicorn will sleep; you will get dragged deep in the forest.

You are a donkey.

Originally posted by Valarie Smith from Crazed Teacups, on February 25, 2009 9:59 AM

If you are a regular visitor then you've probably noticed that we made some design changes yesterday afternoon. The transition went off without a hitch thanks to The Open Planning Project's Anil Makhijani, Andy Cochran and Rob Marianski. I just wanted to take a moment to walk you through the new design and provide another opportunity for feedback here in the comments section.

• For Streetsblog, one of the big goals of the redesign was to make our San Francisco, Los Angeles and National Blog Network web sites more accessible. In the old design, links to these sites were buried in our sidebar. Now you can find them via the tabs in the header.
• You can still find handy links to the Comments, Calendar and Submit Content pages up in the Streetsblog header as well. "Submit Content" used to be called "Contribute" but we thought that it sounded too much like we were asking for money (which we may be doing soon, but not yet). For now, we're just asking you to tag your links, photos and videos so we can feature them here on Streetsblog. This is actually a really interesting part of the web site if you haven't visited it before.
  
(more...)

Originally posted by Aaron Naparstek from Streetsblog, on February 25, 2009 9:24 AM

Earlier this month, the Museum of Modern Art launched an ambitious ad campaign, plastering the entire Atlantic-Pacific Avenue subway station with 57 mostly staid works of art that you've probably seen before, that was, until Poster Boy got his hands on them. New York magazine reports that the constructive vandal joined up with Doug Jaeger, the CEO of the creative agency that executed the campaign and altered the pieces—Aakash Nihalani also added his signature stye. Not only did the artistic action breathe new life into the marketing initiative, but it also was an interesting way for Jaeger to offer his client some excellent added value, even if they supposedly didn't ask for it. Click below for another visually arresting modification.

|Photos: Doug Jaeger|

Originally posted by ANIMAL from ANIMAL New York, on February 25, 2009 8:37 AM

yatta (via Moth)

Today is GPOKCW (Gratuituous Picture of Kenyatta Cheese Wednesday).  Tell your friends and post your favorite Yatta pics. 

Originally posted by (author unknown) from shey.net, on February 25, 2009 7:58 AM

I've had a twitter account for a year or so, but never really started using it until recently. It takes a while to figure out how it works, to strike the right tone, to decide who you want to be. After going back and forth, I've finally decided to be papermagazine. What a surpirse! The good news for you out there is that you can now "follow me" and be privy to all my interesting insights. Last night I had the best time kibbitzing to Obama's speech in twitterese, limited to 140 characters or less. You shoulda been there. Now you can be!

Originally posted by (author unknown) from PAPERMAG: WORD UP!, on February 25, 2009 7:29 AM

As of today, I’m officially over the hill:

(Go here for more stuff like this.)

Originally posted by Andrew Hearst from Panopticist, on February 25, 2009 7:08 AM

On February 21, 2009 Bob Herbert published a column in the New York Times calling the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo “The Invisible War.” After a decade of bloodshed, millions killed and displaced, and an active UN peacekeeping force, why is Africa’s World War so invisible? He actually doesn’t speculate.

Perhaps Mr. Herbert should inquire at the editorial desk. Using the NY Times Article Search API I ran a query by year on the term “Democratic Republic of Congo.” The Times averaged 13.5 stories per year on DR Congo from 1998 through 2008. On the face of it, one story per month seems a nice steady focus. But by comparison, the Times has published an average 151.6 stories on Darfur per year during the same period — even though the war in Darfur only started in 2003. In January 2008, the International Rescue Committee published a study reporting the war in DR Congo had claimed 5.4 million lives. In March 2008, the UN estimated the number of deaths in Darfur at 500,000.

Here are the counts of New York Times articles by year, as of February 24, 2009:

	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
On Democratic Republic of Congo	24	24	12	15	13	11	12	14	14	10	11	5
On Darfur	0	0	1	0	1	0	279	248	413	398	328	33

And a graphic I designed to illustrate it:

For those inclined, here’s the perl script I used to query the API. It borrows heavily from this example.

I realize one should be wary of comparing casualty data gathered with different methodologies, and that the conflict in DR Congo has a five year lead. But a million here, a million there, the disparity is still dramatic.

So why does Darfur get so much more coverage than DR Congo? Do the Arab Muslim bad guys in Sudan make a more convenient target for Western Islamophobes? Are China’s competing industrial interests in Sudan easier to target than US corporate interests in DR Congo? Are the deserts of Darfur simply more accessible than the forests of Northeastern Congo? Or is Darfur a simpler story with clearer victims and perpetrators? A story closer to Western ideas of genocide than Congo’s messier regional war? Certainly the celebrity and NGO pressure on Darfur has helped. I should note that I’m emphatically not arguing that Darfur should be covered less, but that the war in DR Congo should be covered more. Much more.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Social Design Notes, on February 25, 2009 6:55 AM

I read this op-ed by Roy Blount Jr. twice trying to figure out what the point was. Hint: it’s a bad thing that after two reads I was still unsure if this was a joke, was meant to be ironic or had a broader point to make. I actually think it is the later, for all those confused as well, here it is: the audio reader feature on the Kindle II is bad because it potentially will deprive authors of the ability to sell their work as audio books. What you see from Blount here is what is called “burying the lede.” The really sad part is that Blount has a case to make, and totally fails to do so, and in fact does more damage than help to his own cause. What he should’ve said:

 

1. Audio books represent an important stream of revenue for authors, and in many cases make the difference between break even and profit for those who put pen to paper.

2. It is important consider how technology both opens and closes new distribution channels and media, and the time to consider this is early in the process. Ask both the music industry and the movie industry how it works if you wait too long.

3. We are seeing new improvements in text to voice that seem to indicate we’ll need to rethink how the industry licenses and profits from these new technologies.

4. Our proposal is ….

and there is the problem….no proposal shows up in the NYT op-ed.

C’mon. If you are going to spend the time to get an opinion piece in any form, in any publication, you have to make sure you’ve got a cogent argument and a solution or proposal to the problem you’re addressing. I find it hard to believe that that Author’s Guild, made up as it is of people who MAKE THEIR LIVING FROM WRITING is super happy with the lack of persuasive impact and cogent thought shown here.

email digg delicious live it!

Originally posted by FrankShaw from Glass House, on February 25, 2009 5:31 AM

Harold McGee, frequent dropper of food science, says that the home cook can prepare pasta using much less water than traditionally called for.

Heartened by the experts' willingness to experiment, I went back to work, this time starting with hot water. I found that it's possible to butta la pasta in 1 1/2 or 2 quarts of boiling water without having the noodles stick. Short shapes just require occasional stirring. Long strands and ribbons need a quick wetting with cold water just before they go into the pot, then frequent stirring for a minute or two.

McGee also comments that the energy equivalent of "250,000 to 500,000 barrels of oil" could be saved per year by using less water and the resulting pasta water is thicker and "very pleasant tasting".

Tags: food haroldmcgee

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on February 25, 2009 5:22 AM

Yesterday, I talked with Mets third-base coach Razor Shines, who has made quite an impression on people this spring while feeding batting practice and running drills in camp.

…by the way, of every one i have talked with the last week or so, he is by far and away the most engaging and interesting people i have encountered… i am very, very happy Jerry Manuel asked him to be on his staff…

To watch the video, click play below, or to read a quick sample text from the discussion scroll down.

Matthew Cerrone: What’s the big message this camp to the players?

Razor Shines: Well, 1) be positive, and 2) in order to win a championship there are certain things you have to do, ‘There is a price to pay to win a ring.’  That’s one of the slogans we’re going to use.  And, what that price is, is: there’s a lot of sweat, a lot of long hours, and sometimes some tears, but we can do that, we plan on doing that and it’s part of the process.

By the way, if you missed it, yesterday, Ben Shpigel of the New York Times wrote a fantastic profile Shines.

Lastly, to watch video of Shines feeding pop ups to Daniel Murphy, Carlos Beltran and Ryan Church, among other outfielders, click here.

Originally posted by Matthew Cerrone from MetsBlog.com, on February 25, 2009 4:18 AM

From Michael Ruhlman:

I repeat, a few of the best ways to improve your skills in the kitchen is, one, to use really sharp knives, two, to buy grapefruit in February, and three, to know why you buy grapefruit in February.

What I love most about this--as with a lot of things that Ruhlman writes--is the focus on technique, the right (simple) tools, and knowing your stuff.

Originally posted by btrott from Stupidfool.org, on February 24, 2009 9:32 PM

Some background: Last night I received an email from my mother -- a copy of the letter she was sending to various politicians and Citibank executives. It seems that Citibank has increased the interest rate on my grandparents' one credit card - from 5.74% to 14.99%. My 88 and 85 year-old grandparents pay their bills on time, have good credit, and have been responsible with their money for eighty-eight and eighty-five years. That's why it's extremely disheartening that there isn't anything that we can do about this. 

My grandparents aren't alone -- a quick look on Twitter and the comments in this blog post shows other folks talking about their own massive interest rate increases on their Citibank cards. As my mother says in the first line of her letter, she doesn't expect any changes from Citibank -- she only wants to be heard. It will be interesting to see if any of the parties involved (and the politicians) respond.

Dear Sirs/Madams:
We don’t expect any actions as a result of this letter but to bring to your attention what we feel is a situation where even though no laws have been broken, in these economic times, these actions taken by Citibank seem irresponsible and contrary to President Obama’s strategy to get us out of this financial nightmare. Our elderly parents (88 and 85) have only one credit card.  It is with Citibank.  As of their January 2009 statement, their credit card interest rate was raised from 5.74 % in December to 14.99%.  They have excellent credit and have always paid their bill on time.  They use their card responsibly.  When contacting Citibank to inquire why their rate had so dramatically increased, they were simply told it was to cover the cost of doing business.  They also informed them that all their customer’s credit cards interest rates were raised.  Our parent’s one credit card will not be renewed next year by Citibank because our parents will not agree to the outrageous interest rate Citibank has decided to assess them and the rest of their credit card customers.

The real purpose of this letter is to make sure we are not silent when companies like Citibank go to Washington and give lip service on all they are doing to use the TARP funds to help the American people. 

Their actions speak louder than their words.

Copies to
NC Senator Richard Burr
NC Senator Kay Hagan
NC Congresswoman Sue Myrick
NC Congressman Mel Watt
OCC Customer Assistance (Treasury Dept)
Citibank CEO: William R Rhodes
Citibank CFO: Gary L Crittenden
Citibank PR: Kristen Kaus

Originally posted by Mena from Dollarshort, on February 24, 2009 5:50 PM

Some background: Last night I received an email from my mother -- a copy of the letter she was sending to various politicians and Citibank executives. It seems that Citibank has decided to increase the interest rate on my grandparents' one credit card - from 5.74% to 14.99%. My 88 and 85 year-old grandparents pay their bills on time, have good credit, and have been responsible with their money for eighty-eight and eighty-five years. That's why it's extremely disheartening that there isn't anything that we can do about this. 

My grandparents aren't alone -- a quick look on Twitter and the comments in this blog post shows other folks talking about their own massive interest rate increases on their Citibank cards. Sure, credit card companies can increase their rates. That's why variable rates exist. However it's the across the board increases to all customers regardless of their credit and payment history (and age!) that has us outraged. During the election there was a lot of talk of not using a hatchet when a scalpel is needed. It seems as if Citibank just brought out their hacksaw and blunt hatchet.

As my mother says in the first line of her letter, she doesn't expect any changes from Citibank -- she only wants to be heard. It will be interesting to see if any of the parties involved (and the politicians) respond.

Dear Sirs/Madams:
We don’t expect any actions as a result of this letter but to bring to your attention what we feel is a situation where even though no laws have been broken, in these economic times, these actions taken by Citibank seem irresponsible and contrary to President Obama’s strategy to get us out of this financial nightmare. Our elderly parents (88 and 85) have only one credit card.  It is with Citibank.  As of their January 2009 statement, their credit card interest rate was raised from 5.74 % in December to 14.99%.  They have excellent credit and have always paid their bill on time.  They use their card responsibly.  When contacting Citibank to inquire why their rate had so dramatically increased, they were simply told it was to cover the cost of doing business.  They also informed them that all their customer’s credit cards interest rates were raised.  Our parent’s one credit card will not be renewed next year by Citibank because our parents will not agree to the outrageous interest rate Citibank has decided to assess them and the rest of their credit card customers.

The real purpose of this letter is to make sure we are not silent when companies like Citibank go to Washington and give lip service on all they are doing to use the TARP funds to help the American people. 

Their actions speak louder than their words.

Copies to
NC Senator Richard Burr
NC Senator Kay Hagan
NC Congresswoman Sue Myrick
NC Congressman Mel Watt
OCC Customer Assistance (Treasury Dept)
Citibank CEO: William R Rhodes
Citibank CFO: Gary L Crittenden
Citibank PR: Kristen Kaus

Originally posted by Mena from Dollarshort, on February 24, 2009 5:50 PM

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Peripherals, Software, iTunes, Developer

Why, you might wonder, would we want another media program -- isn't iTunes enough? But a new app called Doubletwist (by DVD Jon, creator of the old DeCSS DRM-stripping software) looks to answer that question by taking an iTunes-style interface, and expanding it to pretty much anything you'd want to do with media -- send it to your own phones and portable devices, upload it to sites like Facebook or YouTube, or even send it off to your friends, even those who don't have the app. We first heard about Doubletwist about a year ago, but there wasn't a Mac version to speak of (so who cares, right?).

But the Mac version is now out in public beta, and it's pretty impressive -- you can basically ignore file types, formats, or anything else that would keep you from sending a video, audio, or photo file from your computer out into the great blue yonder. There are a few other screencasts floating around as well, including this demo of the way the app works with pretty much any device you want, from iPod Blackberry to Android, the Sony PSP, and soon, the Nintendo DSi. [Note that the current build only supports the iPhone and iPod on the Windows side, but they say that Mac support for our favorite devices is forthcoming.]

It seems very enticing (though I'm doubtful that all of the video converting and sharing really goes as fast as it looks in the video). But if you want to find out for yourself, have at it -- DoubleTwist is currently a free beta download for Intel 10.5 and up users.

Thanks Sebastiaan!

Continue reading DVD Jon's Doubletwist sends and shares your media

TUAWDVD Jon's Doubletwist sends and shares your media originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 24 Feb 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Originally posted by Mike Schramm from The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW), on February 24, 2009 3:00 PM

From, well ... The San Francisco Chronicle ...

The Hearst Corp. today announced an effort to reverse the deepening operating losses of its San Francisco Chronicle by seeking near-term cost savings that would include "significant" cuts to both union and non-union staff.

In a posted statement, Hearst said if the savings cannot be accomplished "quickly" the company will seek a buyer, and if none comes forward, it will close the Chronicle. The Chronicle lost more than $50 million in 2008 and is on a pace to lose more than that this year, Hearst said.

Originally posted by Josh Marshall from Talking Points Memo, on February 24, 2009 1:56 PM

Hearst says it might have to sell or close the San Francisco Chronicle if it can't lay off a "significant" number of employees "within weeks." From the release:

Hearst said that the Chronicle lost more than $50 million last year and that this year’s losses to date are worse. The Chronicle has had major losses each year since 2001.

“Because of the sea change newspapers everywhere are undergoing and these dire economic times, it is essential that our management and the local union leadership work together to implement the changes necessary to bring the cost of producing the Chronicle into line with available revenue,” said Frank A. Bennack, Jr., vice chairman and chief executive officer, Hearst Corporation, and Steven R. Swartz, president of Hearst Newspapers. They added, “Given the losses the Chronicle continues to sustain, the time to implement these changes cannot be long. These changes are designed to give the Chronicle the best possible chance to survive and continue to serve the people of the Bay Area with distinction, as it has since 1865.  Survival is the outcome we all want to achieve. But without the specific changes we are seeking across the entire Chronicle organization, we will have no choice but to quickly seek a buyer for the Chronicle or, should a buyer not be found, to shut the newspaper down.”

See Also:

• New NYT Owner Carlos Slim Refuses To Grant Paper An Interview
• Tough Times, Flex Times: FT Offers Three Day Work Week
• New York Times Slashes Dividend To Zero (NYT)

Originally posted by Dan Frommer from Silicon Alley Insider, on February 24, 2009 1:25 PM

As I told a friend of mine, my Yankees seats are set. I've moved from the greatest seats ever, now Club Seats, to the backless-beerless-bleachers, which makes complete sense. Why should I be offered seats in any way comparable to my old seats?

At first I threw a fit but then they told me (a) you can have beer, (b) my seats are near a bar, (c) my seats are on an aisle, (d) my seats are over the Yankees bullpen, (e) you can walk around the entire
stadium because the bleachers are not cut off into their own section, (f) if I refuse them I will go back into the pool and who knows where I'll end up, (g) grandstand is supposedly worse than bleachers, (h)
saturday, sunday and friday plans are gone, (i) 70% of the stadium is full and half season ticketholders, (j) next year I can try to get something better, (k) I'm technically entitled to half of TMFJ's tickets and he has a 41-game plan, (l) my friend has every game, (m) some mini plan people are getting offered nothing.

And that is how I made the decision to pay up.
And that is what I am thinking of on Spring Training Opening Eve

Originally posted by Sara Pepitone from Scoreboard Gourmet, on February 24, 2009 12:41 PM

Matt Jones has posted the slides from his talk at Webstock entitled The Demon-Haunted World. It's about technology and the city. Or if you'd like, the city as technology.

The car changed the development of the city irreversibly in the 20th century. I'd claim that mobiles will do the same in the 21st.

Tags: mattjones cities

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on February 24, 2009 11:31 AM

Here's a great story (thanks, David) about two people who followed Shaq on Twitter, answered his tweet to meet up at the '5 and Diner' in Phoenix, and found him there alone.

Returning to our hushed whispers I asked Sean, "Should we go talk to him now?"
"I don't know, should we?"

"Yes, you should" a very deep voice entered our conversation from 2 booths over.

You know what's even better?  The story Shaq's waiter had to tell:

"He ordered like 20 dollars worth of food" the kid stammered out, obviously thrilled to be talking about it, "And he left me a 160 dollar tip. Then he asked for a Sprite and gave me forty bucks for it."

 

Originally posted by Valarie Smith from Crazed Teacups, on February 24, 2009 10:37 AM

On Apple Developer Connection’s new Safari documentation: “Most of it is totally new stuff” twoth Michael Jurewitz.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from ranchero.com, on February 24, 2009 9:34 AM

I enjoyed this exchange with John Hodgman on Twitter yesterday, reminiscent of my own rant on "FAIL."

hodgman: Did I ever tell you people how much I hate the word "meh"? Nothing announces "I have missed the point" more than that word.

hodgman: It is the essence of blinkered Internet malcontentism. And a rejection of joy. Also: 12 hive mehs in the replies SO FAR

hodgman: By definition, it may mean disinterest (although simple silence would be a more damning and sincere response, in that case)

hodgman: But in use, it almost universally seems to signal: I am just interested enough to make one last joyless, nitpicky swipe and then disappear

wordwill: @hodgman Isn't rejecting joy how one traditionally demonstrates one's superior cool? Though, at the same time, to hell with that.

hodgman: @wordwill yes. It's part of the toxic Internet art of constant callous one upsmanship. And it is a sort of art, but not for me.

 

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Waxy.org, on February 24, 2009 7:22 AM

Brewing for espresso enables one to experience a coffee with a fuller range of dimension - the pressured water can pull out many more flavors and aromas from the grounds than gravity brewing. This also means that if your grinder is dirty, you will certainly taste it in an extraction.

The coffee oils that make up your brew are also left behind on grinder burrs. They get rancid quickly, creating a greasy, yellow tinge (you may have noticed this inside hoppers) and gumming up the works.

• Rancid coffee oils stick to fresh grounds,

• Dull the taste of fresh espresso,

• Leave an overpowering burnt taste,

• And, most critically, decrease aromatic dimension.

When grinders are cleaned (and have a fresh layer of coffee oils to eliminate that metallic taste), we can really take in the coffee's entire story - we are able to perceive more nuanced aromas.

For example, you may still be able to perceive a heavy chocolate back end in a Leftist shot from a dirty grinder, but perhaps not be able to perceive the acidity up front.  Or, you may perceive a nuttiness from a dirty grinder, but can differentiate "pecan" from "peanut" when given a shot from a cleaned grinder.  Specific tasting results vary, but the gist is the same: clean your grinder and you'll taste a wider array of nuances within the same taste parameters.

I'll post more soon on the ways to best clean your espresso grinders and bulk grinders.

Originally posted by Erin McCarthy from Gimme! Coffee News, on February 24, 2009 7:08 AM

From Slice

If you don't follow the comings and goings of coal-oven pizzerias around the country—and, really, if you're halfway normal, why would you?—then you may not know there are other Grimaldi's outside the New York City area.

Sure, you might know about the Hoboken Grimaldi's, but, wait ... there's one in Texas? Say wha?

Yes, there are a handful in Texas and the Southwest, all (or most) rocking coal ovens, from what I can tell. Also, from what I can piece together, they are loosely affiliated with the original only in that a different set of owners licensed the name (sort of like the East Harlem Patsy's and the mini-chain Patsy's).

Sounds good, right? Pioneers extending the manifest destiny of coal-oven supremacy throughout the mild West.

Houston, We Have a Problem

But Houston Press food writer Robb Walsh hits upon a busted wheel in this wagon train of pizza deliciousness—the folks in Houston don't like "burnt" pizza.

A coal-fired pizza oven operates at extremely high temperatures. It cooks the pizza very quickly and gives it a slightly smoky flavor. If you make a pizza crust of an average thickness, the hot floor of the brick oven will char the bottom of the crust by the time the pizza is completely cooked. Coal oven pizza aficionados love the char--they savor the crunchy blackened crust the same way Texas barbecue lovers treasure the crispy burnt ends of a brisket.

Unfortunately, Texans weren't raised on coal oven pizza and they see do not see the allure of a "burnt" pizza. And so the whole coal-fired brick oven pizza phenomenon is kind of a joke in Houston.

Apparently, all the Grimaldi's in Arizona and the ones in Texas have learned the hard way that customers send back the "burnt" pizzas and have been cooking their crusts to a dull blond ever since.

Originally posted by Adam Kuban from Serious Eats, on February 24, 2009 6:55 AM

Locals in Beichuan county in China's Sichuan province, including children commuting daily to school, have to use a zip line to get across a river because the bridge that collapsed during the May 2008 earthquake has never been rebuilt. (via wsj)

Update: The residents of Los Pinos, Colombia use a zip line to get across a 1200-foot-deep gorge every day. Each rider brings her own pulley, rope, and piece of wood to act as a brake. (thx, noah)

Tags: china

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on February 24, 2009 6:44 AM

Courtesy: Ironbound Films, Inc.

Of the world's 7,000 languages, 40 percent are on their way to extinction, with the last fluent speaker of a language dying once every two weeks. The Linguists, airing on PBS on February 26 at 10 p.m ET, traces two insatiable researchers, K. David Harrison and Greg Anderson, on a journey to the ends of the Earth to meet the speakers of some very remote languages — Chulym in Siberia, Sora in eastern India, Kallawaya in Bolivia, and Chemehuevi in Arizona — and to document them with audio recordings. The Indiana Jones-like adventures of Harrison and Anderson, whether avoiding Maoist guerillas in India or trekking through the Andes, often dominate the film, yet The Linguists also brings to light the role of technology in preserving language diversity and the knowledge contained within them.

Harrison and Anderson, both linguists, run the Oregon-based Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages, a nonprofit that devotes much of its efforts to building searchable "talking" online dictionaries of rare and endangered languages. By studying these "real outliers," as Harrison calls them, he says we get incrementally closer to understanding how language itself works.

The results of the research are not only on view in the documentary, which premiered at Sundance in 2008, but samples of the audio recordings of Kallawaya, taken during filming, also already appear on the Living Tongues Institute website. Moreover, Anderson has built online dictionaries with accompanying audio devoted to the Siberian language of Tuvan and the North American Indian language of Siletz Dee-ni, which is password-protected: Only members of the tribe can access it. Currently, the institute is building a new online library of the Indian Munda "Ho" language, a sister language to Sora, one of the languages featured in the film.

Audio: Endangered Languages

The following sound clips are provided by the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages. They are used with the consent of the speakers and communities who are the owners of these languages.

Tofa; Central Siberia, 35 speakers
Listen to mp3 | Tofa song, untranslated

Ho; eastern India, 1 million speakers
Listen to mp3 | Translation: "new moon"

Kallawaya; Bolivia, 100 speakers
Listen to mp3 | Untranslated

Chulym; Siberia, less than 10 speakers
Listen to mp3 | Translation: "Where are you going; where are you from; I've never seen such stupid people."

Harrison says his goal is to "assist small and underrepresented languages in crossing the digital divide." Recording the languages and giving them a presence on the Internet helps maintain and grow the number of speakers, he says, and lends some "prestige" to speaking a minority language.

In a particularly powerful moment in the documentary, Harrison and Anderson use a laptop to show elderly Chulym speakers video footage of themselves speaking that they've edited together via iMovie software. While sitting around the computer as if it were a campfire, the Chulym speakers express a sense of delight at seeing and hearing their recorded voices for the first time. "To see themselves represented in a high-tech way," says Anderson in the film, says to them that "maybe our language isn't so backward; maybe I have a knowledge that really is special."

For Harrison and Anderson, documenting languages doesn't always involve Bolivian healing ceremonies with live chicken sacrifices, as the film might suggest. In fact, Harrison says, "it's much more effective, rather than have an outsider linguist going in, to train local people" to do the documentation. With that in mind, the Living Tongues Institute has so far given two communities "language technology kits," which include a laptop computer, a digital camera, a digital audio recorder, and a still camera. A University of Oregon graduate student went to the University of Ranchi in eastern India to work with speakers of Ho, recording thousands of words from elders that will feed into its corresponding online language dictionary. Another kit went to a team of researchers at Gauhati University in Assam, in northeastern India, to document students in their linguistic department, who speak dozens of indigenous languages.

The tech tools of recent decades — like text messaging, web pages, chat rooms, and YouTube — are finding use among speakers of indigenous languages, says Anderson. Margaret Noori, a colleague of Anderson's and a professor of literature and linguistics at the University of Michigan, is part of a network of Native American Ojibwe speakers who have Facebook networks, a website (Ojibwe.net) with easy-to-download language lessons, and who share Ojibwe words with each other using the Zephyr application for iPhone.

Anderson says he hopes their documentation efforts will also become a tool to test out linguistic theories. "One of the things that I see myself being able to do," he explains, "is provide detailed and adequately confirmed phenomena to the general linguistic community and say, 'here's some data, now come up with a new theory to explain this data.'"

During filmmaking, Harrison and Anderson discovered an interesting feature of Sora: Its speakers can incorporate definite and specific nouns into a verb, to create, for example, the single-word jo-me-bob-dem-te-n-ei ("I will anoint my head with oil," or, literally, "smear-oil-head"). This structure goes against prevailing linguistic models, which argue that the incorporated part of the word (i.e., "oil") should not be available to the external syntax of the phrase, in which the verb is embedded. "Since 80 percent of the world's languages aren't documented," Harrison says, many of the languages they encounter "confound current [linguistic] theories in interesting ways."

"The fact that these languages are disappearing," Harrison says, gives him a sense of urgency. "The tipping point has passed for many languages. There's only one option for them: Record what you can before they disappear."

Read the entire article

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Seed Magazine, on February 24, 2009 5:40 AM

 I was speaking with a local grocer yesterday who, even though his stores currently sell tomatoes and asparagus, still laments that people don’t buy more seasonally.  Grocery stores in a way prevent us from thinking seasonally by offering us everything we demand regardless of quality.

But you can still shop seasonally if not locally (in Cleveland).  Why are grapefruits twenty five cents a piece right now at my grocery store?  That’s really cheap, so they should be kind of crappy, right?  No, they’re the best ever.  Why?  Because it’s grapefruit season.  It wasn’t until I lived in Florida and I looked up one day in February and, Cleveland native that I am, thought to myself, “Wow, look at all those grapefruit.  I thought fruit was a summertime thing.”  And then I thought, “Wow, look at all those grapefruit—in somebody’s front lawn.  I wish I had a front lawn like that.”

Fortunately, I had a friend who had a grapefruit tree in their front lawn and I think I consumed 100 grapefruit that winter. Grapefruit nirvana.

I think about this now because most mornings I segment two grapefruits for the kids.  I love segmenting citrus fruits.  It’s meditative.  You get better and better at taking the pith off the fruit.  It’s fun to watch the blade curving along the perimeter of the fruit.  And all this fun results in the removal of the bitterness, leaving nothing but pure fruity bursts of flavor.

The thing is, segmenting citrus fruits is very unfun if you don’t have a sharp knife.  And here is the impetus for this post, sparked by morning grapefruit: one of the most important things you can do to be a better cook and to have more fun in the kitchen is to use sharp knives.  The thing is almost nobody does—not that I know at least.  I have never been in a home kitchen that contained sharp knives.  Never.  OK, a couple times I have but they were only sharp because they were never used.  This must change.  American home kitchens must have, to borrow from MFK Fisher, "knives sharp as lightning."

In culinary school, I learned how to sharpen knives on rough sharpening stones.  When I hung out at the sushi temple, Masa, the chefs sharpened their knives on smooth ceramic stones.  For years I sharpened my own knives, but frankly, I was never very good at it.  Not as good as a professional sharpener.  So I found a professional sharpener in Cleveland and I take my knives to him once or twice a year (fellow Clevelanders, it's at 1867 Prospect, across from the Convocation Center--says wet grinding on the sign out front, back of an antique shop).  It is what I recommend to all the people who ask me about the subject.  And learn how to steel your knives to keep them sharp.  They will stay sharp for a long time.

Guys, does the mother of your kids like to cook?  The best Mother’s Day gift you could get her would be sharp edges on her knives.

I repeat, a few of the best ways to improve your skills in the kitchen is, one, to use really sharp knives, two, to buy grapefruit in February, and three, to know why you buy grapefruit in February.

Originally posted by michael ruhlman from ruhlman.com, on February 24, 2009 3:44 AM

Tonight I happened to catch the end of East of Eden, a movie that I probably haven't seen in 15 years.  For a while, I preferred it to Rebel without a Cause, but the more I watched Rebel, the darker and more powerful it became. 

I love James Dean.  My most beloved shoes in college were a pair of Jack Purcells that I bought just because he wore them in the photo above.  But I haven't watched one of his movies in a few years, so this was kind of fun.  (I've seen Rebel quite a bit; East of Eden a few times; Giant only once, because of its length and Dean's comparatively minor role.)

I know that Marlon Brando is his obvious predecessor, but Brando's emotion expressed itself in too much anger and violence for me to relate to - or, in a sense, even want to be near.  The energy he brings to the screen makes me nervous in the same way that being out on 6th Ave and 8th St in the Village late on a Friday night used to make me nervous - there's a hint of something wild.  You just get this feeling that anything could happen.

Montgomery Clift was an emotional actor, too, but in a different way.  Although similarly expressive, he was less animalistic, more calculating than Brando.  Where Brando might've punched someone, Clift would've plotted revenge.  But Clift had an actorly polish, and a more formal bearing than Brando or Dean. 

Dean came down in the middle.  He had the physical looseness of Brando - his movement in films that are 55 years old still looks like the way lots of kids walk and talk today - and like Brando, his characters (all three of them) struggled against their circumstances, caged, unable to progress or articulate their needs.  But Dean, like Clift, navigated his confusion internally and tried to plot a way out.  Dean was a lover, not a fighter, but like Clift, he had no problem rising to the occasion if he had to.

So when I finished watching the end of East of Eden tonight, I looked up its entry in wikipedia and saw a quote from the NY Times calling Dean's performance "a mass of histrionic gingerbread."  I found the full review, and it appears that one Bosley Crowther said the following:

James Dean is a mass of histrionic gingerbread. He scuffs his feet, he whirls, he pouts, he sputters, he leans against walls, he rolls his eyes, he swallows his words, he ambles slack-kneed—all like Marlon Brando used to do. Never have we seen a performer so clearly follow another's style. Mr. Kazan should be spanked for permitting him to do such a sophomoric thing. Whatever there might be of reasonable torment in this youngster is buried beneath the clumsy display.

Oh, dear.  Since he died in a car crash not long thereafter, you can't really say that James Dean had the last laugh, exactly, can you?  But audiences certainly recognized the realism in all of that ambling and leaning and eye-rolling, so his legacy remains in tact.  So what, I then wondered, of Bosley Crowther?  His wikipedia entry is an interesting one, too, detailing his sensitivity to "movies with social content" and his opposition to McCarthy, HUAC and "stridently patriotic movies." 

This is the line that really killed me.  Of Lawrence of Arabia, he said it is a "thundering camel-opera that tends to run down rather badly as it rolls on into its third hour and gets involved with sullen disillusion and political deceit."

Lawrence of Arabia is, of course, another one of my favorites.  But I have to admit - this guy could turn a phrase.

Originally posted by Valarie Smith from Crazed Teacups, on February 23, 2009 8:17 PM

Maybe it’s unfair to compare the 64-65 Topps hockey Tallboys with their smaller and easier to store cardboard brethren, but I don’t think you’ll ever see another checklist card as epic as this.

They just don’t make ‘em like that anymore. Too bad I didn’t have the $87 to spend on it at the time. I’ve started saving for the next one this nice, though.

Originally posted by handcollated from Hand Collated, on February 23, 2009 8:10 PM

Macropinna macrostoma (common name "barreleyes") can rotate its eyes to a vertical position; because its head is transparent, it can then see predators or prey above itself without moving its body!

Two net-caught individuals contained fragments of jellyfish, which must have been their last meal. Such a potentially painful dinner requires incredible stealth, so it’s now thought that barreleyes carefully maneuvers its body near such stinging organisms, keeping its “eyes on the prize,” as the researchers said, throughout the entire hunt. Its tiny mouth then picks at the victim while a transparent shield protects the fish’s eyes.

Link - via reddit

(image credit: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute)

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Minnesotastan.

Originally posted by Queuebot from Neatorama, on February 23, 2009 6:50 PM

atelier zhang lei is a small architecture studio based in the nanjing, china. the firm has completed a number
of buildings in the nanjing area and in many other major chinese cities. one of their most recent works is
a residential structure in nanjing called ‘slit house’. this minimal home has a distinct look that recalls
contemporary japanese architecture with a twist. the home is built using a concrete exterior, which has
been poured to give it a distinct texture that is meant to coordinate with the neighbouring brick homes.
the home takes its name from the fracture that divides the front and the back sections of the structure.
this fracture is indented with a completely glassed in section that fills the interior with light. the kitchen
and two-story living area are on the bottom floor, while the bedrooms are located on the main floor.
the attic on the top floor is used as a library and reading room.

atelier zhang lei on world-architects.com

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Designboom - Weblog, on February 23, 2009 3:36 PM

The President's message on fiscal responsibility -- that he'll cut the current one by half by the end of his first term -- is smart politics right now, but it may be dumb politics by November of 2012, and doesn't make much economic sense regardless.

We're in a deepening recession, in case you hadn't noticed. The biggest challenge is to ramp up aggregate demand. Yes, we have to borrow lots from the Chinese and Japanese to do this, and, yes, it's costly in terms of additional interest payments to them. But there's no choice. In fact, if the slump gets worse -- and I have every reason to fear it will because that's the direction we're heading in as fast as you can imagine -- we'll probably have to have a second stimulus. And if the second isn't enough, a third. And so on. FDR's biggest mistake was doing too little until World War II. (No one should interpret this as a recommendation for more military spending -- I'm just saying Obama will probably have to think and do much bigger than the $787 billion stimulus so far.)

Can we continue to borrow and borrow and borrow? Yes, but eventually we'll have to pay higher interest rates to continue to attract global savings, mostly from the Chinese and Japanese. But that's not anytime soon. The Chinese and Japanese are not going to yank their money out of Treasury bills because the slump is worldwide and T-bills are about the best and safest place to park savings. Besides, the Chinese don't want the dollar to plunge. They'd be stuck with a lot of paper worth far less than they got it for, and their exports would be in even worse shape than now.

Blue-Dog Democrats, Washington insiders who love to prattle on about the dangers of too much debt, Wall Street bond traders, and most of the Republican Party (including, notably, John McCain and La. Governor Bobby Jindal, the two "front-runners" for the Republican presidency in 2012, at least in terms of media attention), will continue to fuss about the skyrocketing debt. The very word "trillions" when juxtaposed with the word "dollars" is enough to send most people into paroxisms of shock and awe. So it makes political sense to talk now about fiscal responsibility, especially with Obama's first budget emerging this week, along with the likelihood that Geithner will soon ask for additional money for Wall Street.

But what happens when and if it's 2012 and the economy continues to need boosting? That promise could be a huge liability.

As to the economics, remember that when it comes to deficits and debt, the real issues over the long term are (1) the ratio of debt to GDP (we're still under 50 percent, which ain't bad, considering all the spending that's been going on; at the end of World War II it was substantially above 120 percent). And (2) whether and when we're back to growing the GDP, which is the most reliable way of improving the ratio.

If and when the stimulus package is big enough to get us back to full capacity, and if and when we make the public investments necessary to enlarge that capacity -- including the health and the education of our kids and our workforce, including a sustainable energy infrastructure, including public health and the environment -- we'll be in fine shape.

Halving the budget deficit by 2012 is a fine goal but it has almost nothing to do with any of this.

Originally posted by Robert Reich from Robert Reich's Blog, on February 23, 2009 3:19 PM

(Cross-posted from the Google.org Blog)

When Larry and Sergey laid out their vision for Google.org, they hoped that this "experiment in active philanthropy" would one day have an even greater impact on the world than Google itself. They committed resources from Google's profits, equity and substantial employee time to this philanthropic effort, and they created the mission: "to use the power of information and technology to address the global challenges of our age." They structured Google.org so that in addition to traditional grant making, it can also invest in for-profit companies, advocate for policies and, most important, tap into Google's strengths: its employees, products and technologies. At first I was skeptical about "going corporate," but I came on board convinced that Google could make real progress on these issues. I think we have made an excellent beginning, but it is just a very few steps on a long path.

Now, three years after Google.org was founded, we've been reviewing our progress, and how best to take things forward. It's clear that I am most effective in helping to identify "big ideas" and potential partners, as well as raising awareness about society's biggest challenges. I am therefore very excited to become Google's Chief Philanthropy Evangelist. I think this is the highest contribution that I can make both to Google.org and to fighting the urgent threats of our day: from climate change to emerging infectious diseases, to issues of poverty and health care. By focusing my energy outwards I hope to be able to spend more time motivating policy makers, encouraging public and private partnerships, and generally advocating for the changes that we must make as a global society to solve these problems. Long-time Googler Megan Smith will take over day-to-day management of Google.org, joining as General Manager to lead us through this transition, in addition to her existing role as Vice President of New Business Development.

One of the first things that Megan will focus on is how Google.org can best achieve its mission. During our review it became clear that while we have been able to support some remarkable non-profit organizations over the past three years, our greatest impact has come when we've attacked problems in ways that make the most of Google's strengths in technology and information; examples of this approach include Flu Trends, RechargeIT, Clean Energy 2030, and PowerMeter. By aligning Google.org more closely with Google as a whole, Megan will ensure that we're better able to build innovative, scalable technology and information solutions. As a first step, Google has decided to put even more engineers and technical talent to work on these issues and problems, resources which I have found to be extraordinary. In this global economic crisis, the work Google.org is doing, together with our many colleagues around the world, to help develop cheap clean energy, find and fight disease outbreaks before they sweep the globe, and build information platforms for underserved people globally, is more important than ever. We stand behind the commitment made in 2004 to devote 1% of Google's equity and profits to philanthropy, and we will continue to iterate on our philanthropic model to make sure our resources have the greatest possible impact for good.

Posted by Dr. Larry Brilliant, Chief Philanthropy Evangelist, Google.org

Originally posted by A Googler from The Official Google Blog, on February 23, 2009 2:27 PM

Shared by Eve
yes

Journalism. A fiercely important craft. Can you allow this to die?

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Ab Minute, on February 23, 2009 1:49 PM

Shared by Eve
"Bloggers won’t do it; they don’t have the time, financial incentives or support or attention span." What an idiotic remark.

At a time when virtually all of the news coming out of the newspaper industry is very bleak — the owners of the local Philadelphia papers are the latest to file for bankruptcy — here’s an inspiring story of local journalism and why it still matters:

When Chauncey Bailey, the editor of The Oakland Post, in California, was gunned down in broad daylight on a city street 18 months ago, it was not the end of his journalism. In some ways, it was a new beginning.

After his death, a group of reporters — some retired, some out of work — with support from foundations and the University of California, Berkeley, banded together to continue his investigation into a local business called Your Black Muslim Bakery and to look at any role the bakery may have played in Mr. Bailey’s murder and at the role of the police in its investigation.

The group, named The Chauncey Bailey Project, has had a deep impact on the city’s public life, revealing a jailhouse videotape that suggested a wider conspiracy in the murder and which the police seemingly ignored, and helping force the resignation of the Oakland police chief, Wayne Tucker.

Wire services can’t/won’t do this local investigative work. Bloggers won’t do it; they don’t have the time, financial incentives or support or attention span. TV journalists could do this type of work but are “culturally” disinclined to put in the effort these folks put in. NPR might do in-depth reporting but not on a local level.

This story illustrates why local journalism matters to communities and why journalism is a civic institution that must be preserved in some form to enable governments to function more transparently and legitimately.

___

Related: WSJ says it’s time for newspapers to ask readers for fees; “Information wants to be expensive.”

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Screenwerk, on February 23, 2009 1:49 PM

I stopped for lunch off of St. Lucie West Blvd., to grab some food, and bumped into the crew from Mets Weekly, who I have known for years now.

The show’s new host, Julie Alexandria, was doing a segment with David Wright and Howard Johnson, during which they ate lunch and talked baseball.

Mid-way through the lunch, Wright spotted some young kids who noticed him and were patiently waiting for an autograph. Wright looked over and asked, “Hey, little guy, you want to be on TV?”

Th kids ran over, giddy, and Wright and Johnson signed a few autographs, which the kids were super ecstatic about.

Julie brought up the rumors about Manny Ramirez, to which Wright asked, “What about Daniel Murphy, he’s the left-handed Manny?”

Later, some how, the topic of American Idol came up, to which HoJo admitted to voting.

He seems to be a legit fan.

He said he voted for the guy who had the last name Gokey, but he couldn’t remember his name.

Off camera, but only a few feet from the table with the producers, I smiled and nodded, because I watch the show, know the singer, and hate that I know the singer.

Wright pointed to me off camera and said loudly, “He knows his name.”

I did, so I said it, then proclaimed that I hate myself for knowing this.

HoJo, on the other hand, seemed relieved to have the answer.

I seriously can’t believe he votes. I cant tell if this is good to know, or not. I mean, my wife and I don’t even vote.

Originally posted by Matthew Cerrone from MetsBlog.com, on February 23, 2009 11:01 AM

David Merrill is a grad student in the Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT's Media Lab. He and his fellow students in this group work on new technologies that give us more and better abilities to do things we want to do. At TED2009 he gave a demo of his main project, Siftables.

Today the TED Blog interviewed Merrill to get some details about the Siftables project -- and answers to some questions that many have asked since his demo. Here's a snippet:

I have heard so many people say: "My kids will love these. When can I get some?" The realization has been hitting us over the past few months that the potential for kid-oriented interactions is huge and meaningful.

Find the full interview with David Merrill below the fold >>

Full text of email interview with David Merrill (2/23/09):

A sound problem interrupted your live talk -- but everyone noted how you kept your cool. What's the secret?

I have been in blues and rock bands since I was a teenager, and there's nothing like performing in front of big audiences over and over to cure any trace of stage fright. The sound problem was just like having a band-mate break a guitar string, and whenever that happened during a concert I'd have to stall for time while he fixed it and keep the audience with me in exactly the same way.

You're in China now, looking at manufacturing possibilities for Siftables. What grabbed your interest?

The electronics market in Shenzen is amazing -- it's a fabulous bazaar for technology geeks.

There's something satisfying about the clatter of Siftables on a tabletop. But how hardy are they?

Siftables are pretty durable little guys. We worked with Amit Zoran (of the MIT Media Lab) and Noah Murphy-Reinhertz (of polysaturated.com) to make the plastic housings, and they have been working really well -- we haven't had any break on us yet. However, one of the things that we've seen at every factory is the drop-test rig, and I think we probably have a little more robustification to do before dropping heavy objects onto them.

Earlier on in the design cycle, what was something you tried that just did not work?

We initially made little charging docks -- one for each Siftable. They were cute and they mostly worked, but they complicated the design of each Siftable block. We continue to learn that simple solutions are usually the best ones.

Many people are wondering whether Siftables are going to be openly programmable. What do you think?

I can't say much about this now, but stay tuned. There are a lot of creative people out there, and we would love to enable them to design interactions for Siftables.

Let's say you had an extra minute on stage. Is there anything you'd like to add?

I think one of the things we ought to be focusing on as we design the next generation of interaction technology is its potential for amplifying our expression. My working definition of the expressivity of a tool or instrument is how effectively it enables an idea to be made into a reality. The definition works as well for new interfaces as it does for musical instruments, and building tools that close the gap between the creative impulse and a realized instantiation of that impulse is my life's work. Moreover, the delight that we feel when playing musical instruments is a target to strive for in the area of human-computer interfaces.

You've gotten a huge response from both the TED community and from the public. Is there something you've been hearing that you'd like to address or expand on?

I have heard so many people say: "My kids will love these. When can I get some?" The realization has been hitting us over the past few months that the potential for kid-oriented interactions is huge and meaningful. Someone else likened them to the Speak-N-Spell, but for the children of the 21st century. I like that comparison, since I have great memories of that device and I think its educational impact was important. If we can make a similar contribution I'll be very happy.

Credit: TED.com
Watch David Merrill demo Siftables >>

Originally posted by (author unknown) from TED Blog, on February 23, 2009 10:56 AM

From the recent TED conference, a demo of Siftables, blocks that are smart. What I find most interesting about Siftables is that the blocks form a computer than doesn't need instructions but it doesn't seem like a computer at all, i.e. the Holy Grail of computing. (via peterme)

Tags: siftables video

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on February 23, 2009 10:16 AM

I can't relate to this post about Mondays that everyone seems excited about. I fricken LOVE Mondays. It's the start of the week. You get to see what ideas that were so important on Friday stayed important until Monday. Sometimes a couple of days brings everyone to their senses and we can leave bad ideas in the past week.

Mondays are a fresh start. They're like a reset button for the doldrums of your Wednesday afternoon meetings where two people are going on about something the other eight people in the room don't even understand.

Sundays, specifically Sunday nights, are the worst. I hate them. The last day to get stuff done and you can't even stay up late working on anything. Anything you didn't have time to do now sits around until the next weekend.

Originally posted by torrez from Andre's Notes, on February 23, 2009 10:11 AM

I can't relate to this post about Mondays that everyone seems excited about. I fricken LOVE Mondays. It's the start of the week. You get to see what ideas that were so important on Friday stayed important until Monday. Sometimes a couple of days brings everyone to their senses and we can leave bad ideas in the past week.

Mondays are a fresh start. They're like a reset button for the doldrums of your Wednesday afternoon meetings where two people are going on about something the other eight people in the room don't even understand.

Sundays, specifically Sunday nights, are the worst. I hate them. The last day to get stuff done and you can't even stay up late working on anything. Anything you didn't have time to do now sits around until the next weekend.

Originally posted by torrez from Andre's Notes, on February 23, 2009 10:11 AM

In a NY Times op-ed piece, Emily Oberman and Bonnie Siegler argue that the Oscars should have a category for the design of title sequences. Hear, hear. Their pick for this year's hypothetical award:

1. "WALL-E," Susan Bradley and Jim Capobianco/Pixar. These poignant end titles, which show humans and robots flourishing on a revived Earth, offer a quick history of art, from cave paintings to van Gogh. They then proceed to retell the entire movie, this time in the pixelated style of old video games.

(via subtraction)

Tags: design movies oscars walle

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on February 23, 2009 8:54 AM

After Shaq tweets that he's hanging out at a local diner in Phoenix, two nervous Twitter users venture out to see if Shaq is actually THE_REAL_SHAQ.

Returning to our hushed whispers I asked Sean, "Should we go talk to him now?" "I don't know, should we?"

"Yes, you should" a very deep voice entered our conversation from 2 booths over.

(via truehoop)

Tags: shaquilleoneal twitter

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on February 23, 2009 7:38 AM

Rockefeller Center: Throughout the very public and acrimonious battle between the Ciprianis, the current operators of the famed Rainbow Room atop 30 Rockefeller Center, and Tishman Speyer, their landlord, the Cipriani family has claimed that Tishman plans on converting the historic space into offices. For their part, the developer's reps contend they want to keep the space as a restaurant but want better and more capable operators who will actually pay their rent. Fair enough, but the Cips aren't the only ones spreading this office conversion rumor. An interesting piece of intel from the tipline:

"Apparently some Rainbow Room employees have witnessed reps from architecture firm Gensler coming in several times over past couple weeks (since Tishman and Cipriani settled lawsuit re: Cipriani's exit by Aug 1), scoping out plans for conversion to office space for occupancy by Lazard, which currently controls floors below Rainbow Room and Grill."

We have yet to confirm the info, but restaurateurs planning on bidding on the space may want to keep in mind that the future of the Rainbow Room is not a certain one. We'll be looking into this further, but any and all tips are welcome.
· Ciprianis Agree to Leave Rainbow Room August 1 [~E~]
· Tishman Speyer Kicks the Ciprianis out of the Rainbow Room [~E~]

Originally posted by Amanda from Eater, on February 23, 2009 7:31 AM

We won! PepsiCo is reverting to the old Tropicana OJ containers.

The about-face comes after consumers complained about the makeover in letters, e-mail messages and telephone calls and clamored for a return of the original look. Some of those commenting described the new packaging as "ugly" or "stupid," and resembling "a generic bargain brand" or a "store brand."

"Do any of these package-design people actually shop for orange juice?" the writer of one e-mail message asked rhetorically. "Because I do, and the new cartons stink." Others described the redesign as making it more difficult to distinguish among the varieties of Tropicana or differentiate Tropicana from other orange juices.

David Wertheimer notes that the decoration of the packaging was not the main issue, the design was:

As a loyal Tropicana buyer, I don't love the straw-punctured fruit or the old logo at all. What I love is Tropicana juice. And the new packaging made it hard for me to buy it. My preference was hidden in small type; the cartons no longer differentiated on the shelves. It took me longer to shop, and twice this winter I went home with the wrong juice.

(thx, david)

Tags: tropicana design food

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on February 23, 2009 6:58 AM

Why do people Twitter? Even the company's CEO, Ev Williams can't answer that question. Perhaps he is embarrassed by the true reason: We Twitter to reassure ourselves that we are alive.

The Times of London asked experts about the Twitter phenomenon, and concluded that people use the Internet message-broadcasting service to send 140-character "tweets" relating their most mundane activities because of an underdeveloped sense of the self:

The clinical psychologist Oliver James has his reservations. "Twittering stems from a lack of identity. It's a constant update of who you are, what you are, where you are. Nobody would Twitter if they had a strong sense of identity."

"We are the most narcissistic age ever," agrees Dr David Lewis, a cognitive neuropsychologist and director of research based at the University of Sussex. "Using Twitter suggests a level of insecurity whereby, unless people recognise you, you cease to exist. It may stave off insecurity in the short term, but it won't cure it."

For Alain de Botton, author of Status Anxiety and the forthcoming The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, Twitter represents "a way of making sure you are permanently connected to somebody and somebody is permanently connected to you, proving that you are alive. It's like when a parent goes into a child's room to check the child is still breathing. It is a giant baby monitor."

Politico checked in on the service's use in the nation's capital, and found that the vainglorious pundits and lawmakers who crave attention in print and on TV have also flocked to Twitter. The media at large, a class of people who define themselves by the size of their audience, have turned themselves into the Twitterati, building up lists of "followers" as a reassurance that they have an importance that will outlast their dying employers.

But the narcissism of today's overcommunicators transcends one little startup, and goes far beyond the makers of media. The Washington Post profiled Julie Zingeser, a 15-year-old girl who sent and received 6,473 texts in a single month. Her mother worries about Julie's ability to focus. Sherry Turkle, an MIT professor, worries about deeper issues:

Sherry Turkle, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wonders whether texting and similar technologies might affect the ability to be alone and whether feelings are no longer feelings unless they are shared. "It's so seductive," she said. "It meets some very deep need to always be connected, but then it turns out that always being trivially connected has a lot of problems that come with it."

Always being trivially connected sounds like Twitter's business model. The company is now worth $230 million, according to its investors. Some narcissistic executive with more wallet than brains will likely pay more than that to take it off their hands. And some day, perhaps Williams, the Twitter CEO, will no longer have to explain what he does for a living. Twittering will seem as natural as drawing breath. By then, we may have even forgotten that there was more to life than constantly proving we're alive.

(Photo by moriza)

Originally posted by Owen Thomas from Gawker: Valleywag, on February 23, 2009 6:35 AM

it's difficult to know which factors to model, and the criteria can be very subjective  

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Waxy.org Links, on February 23, 2009 6:11 AM

Having grown up in its environs, I have long been an advocate of anything to do with Coney Island. Today I am saddened. What was once New York's great testament to the imagination is but a relic of its former self. Last year Astroland was summarily removed, leaving a gaping hole where millions of New Yorkers have played in the past. The city has been embroiled in a power struggle with Thor Equities over the future of the site with no resolution in sight. The city is no angel in this story either. Its plans calling for building skyscrapers and cutting into what's left of The People's Playground have gotten people up-in-arms as well. The Coney Island Hysterical Society has long been fighting the good fight to preserve what's left of the historic district but now they need our help more than ever. The rezoning clock is ticking. The web site fightforyourrighttoconey is chock full of relevant info regarding meetings, benefits and other useful ways you can contribute to the worthy cause. It's platform is summed up like this: YES to Revitalizing Coney's World Famous Amusement District! NO to 26 New High Rises of up to 30 stories each in the current Amusement District! NO to Retail, Malls or "Entertainment Retail" in the Amusement District! NO to shrinkage of the Amusement District from 61 acres to 9 acres! YES to preserving Amusement Zoning in the Amusement District!! YES to keeping Coney Island the People's Playground- providing accessible Amusements for ALL to enjoy!!

Originally posted by (author unknown) from PAPERMAG: WORD UP!, on February 23, 2009 5:54 AM

Manuel’s Camp: Manuel is a pure freelancer – an intelligent but spontaneous administrator who isn’t afraid to tweak his players… Manuel wants the Mets to know he thinks outside the box, although he’s not necessarily obsessed with tranquility. ‘I know what’s going on with the Yankees, but to be honest, I don’t mind adversity once in a while,’ the manager said. ‘I find that it brings a team together. So I’m not too hung up on everyone being happy all the time.’

Originally posted by David Jacobs from hello, typepad, on February 23, 2009 5:18 AM

I have been complaining in this space for several months about the awful redesign of Tropicana's packaging. It screamed change for change's sake, and truly felt designed without regard for brand strength or visibility.

Who at Pepsi possibly thought 12-point sans-serif product descriptions were better than the large, color-coordinated pulp and acidity indicators? Or that a sea of orange juice was more eye-catching and unique than fruit with straws? Or that Tropicana's logo just had to be updated? The new stuff was pretty, sure, but entirely generic and unusable.

Tropicana wisely backtracked this weekend and is reverting to its old packaging. The company cited consumer feedback as the driver, which is nice to see. But its spin completely missed the point.

"We underestimated the deep emotional bond," said Tropicana's president, Neil Campbell. "What we didn't get was the passion this very loyal small group of consumers have."

This is false. As a loyal Tropicana buyer, I don't love the straw-punctured fruit or the old logo at all. What I love is Tropicana juice. And the new packaging made it hard for me to buy it. My preference was hidden in small type, the cartons no longer differentiated on the shelves. It took me longer to shop, and twice this winter I went home with the wrong juice. I'm glad they're reverting but not for the reasons they see (or admit).

One thing hasn't changed, though: Tropicana Pure Premium is great orange juice. Thank goodness they didn't mess with that.

Originally posted by David Wertheimer from Ideapad, on February 23, 2009 4:50 AM

Garage Collective Red Feds $4 The first People's History poster about New Zealand! The New Zealand Federation of Labor, the Red Feds, was the first significant NZ labor organization. Deeply influenced by the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World), the Red Feds worked between 1908 and 1913 to unite the various trades together for class struggle, revolutionary unionism and the abolishing of capitalism. 2 color offset printed poster 11"x17" unsigned/unlimited edition

Originally posted by Josh M. from Just Seeds, on February 23, 2009 3:50 AM

So how'd Nate Silver do with his predictions on Oscar night? He got four out of six, missing Penelope Cruz for best supporting and Sean Penn for best actor. I, however, am one for one with my Nate Silver predictions.

Tags: natesilver oscars movies

Originally posted by jason@kottke.org from kottke.org, on February 23, 2009 3:48 AM

In the Bergen Record, Bob Klapisch does a fantastic job of capturing the vibe in Mets camp, and the role Jerry Manuel is playing in it, writing:

“Manuel… is a pure freelancer – an intelligent but spontaneous administrator who isn’t afraid to tweak his players… Manuel wants the Mets to know he thinks outside the box, although he’s not necessarily obsessed with tranquility.  ‘I know what’s going on with the Yankees, but to be honest, I don’t mind adversity once in a while,’ the manager said.  ‘I find that it brings a team together.  So I’m not too hung up on everyone being happy all the time.’”

In an online report for WFAN, Eddie Coleman explains why, “It has been nothing short of Camp Contentment here in Port St. Lucie.”

Over the weekend, I wrote:

It’s nothing against Willie Randolph, but his camp was far more quiet and professional, which, while it worked fine for the Yankees in the 90s, it just never felt right for this team.

Manuel’s camp, this spring, actually reminds me of a younger, high-school like camp, with lots of rooting for one another, lots of clapping, lots of team-oriented drills and talk and motivation and constant chatter from coaches and teammates encouraging each other.

Yesterday, I watched Randy Niemann and other coaches reading from a prepared speech, talking to the team’s pitching staff, about focusing on the specific task at hand, be it a big pitch, or a small drill, or one throw in a warm up, stressing how every action is part of one long process towards winning a championship and so no one task can be taken lightly.

For me, as a fan, who wants desperately for this team to win, this is all exciting and it probably warps my reality of what is really happening – because, when I hear Razor Shines talking about Championships, rings, etc., I get pumped up.  The good news is that the players seem to be responding too, and that’s what is most important.

Originally posted by Matthew Cerrone from MetsBlog.com, on February 23, 2009 3:30 AM

The passionate gamers on BoardGameGeek.com (BGG) devote a lot of time and effort to create comprehensive content and reviews on practically every game that is out there, including out-of-print and small, self-published games. They not only rate the games, but write up rule clarifications, post in-depth game analyses, suggest variants for better gameplay, and even translate rules into other languages. The site features a marketplace where you can buy, sell and trade games with other gamers, forums where you can ask questions, create lists, and tons of other functionality. Of course, the real value of such a large, informed and well-established community is the wisdom of crowds effect you get from their collective opinions. As I write, the #1 game on BGG [Puerto Rico] has 11956 votes compared with 7 votes for the #1 game on the previously-reviewed Board Game Ratings (BGR) [Password]. And since BGG isn't a retailer (unlike BGR), they have a comprehensive database of *all* games, not just those the store happens to carry.

I probably visit BGG one to two times a month, mostly to browse for new games that might be good (In the past year, I've picked up Pandemic, Roll Through the Ages, Caylus, Agricola, Dominion, Race for the Galaxy, Galaxy Trucker, and Ticket to Ride: Märklin.). Also, I sometimes hear about a game through a friend or some other channel, and I'll go to the site to find out more. Since it's heavily crowdsourced, and there is such a large, passionate community, I've discovered that even the most obscure games will have details like pictures, descriptions, type, and of course ratings. It's also a great resource when you're playing a game and need rules clarifications, rule variant suggestions, expansions, etc.

If you are considering buying a game, you owe it to yourself to check out BGG. Granted, the list of top-rated games tends to lean a bit more toward the serious-gamer crowd. But you can use the advanced search feature to look for "light" games with high average ratings, and then sort the results by Bayesian ranking. You'd even do OK just by picking games of the "Hotness" list in the left column.

-- Dave Cortright

Board Game Geek

BONUS: For purchasing said games, FunAgain.com is the current consensus among my gamer friends on the best place to buy from, though I've also used Fair Play Games with great success. -- Dave Cortright

Related Entries:
Finite and Infinite Games Apples to Apples All-Star Games

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Cool Tools, on February 23, 2009 3:00 AM

John McCain best pal Carly Fiorina ...

"If we don't change, we're going to go back to the old ways, and we're going to continue to lose," said Maldonado, who faulted the party's hard line against illegal immigration. "They don't get it on illegal immigration," he said.

But a tough stance toward illegal immigrants was a given for the 1,250 delegates and guests at the convention. Carly Fiorina, a possible contender in the party's U.S. Senate primary next year to challenge Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer, made them the butt of a joke in a hotel penthouse breakfast speech. When her family first moved to California, Fiorina recalled, her little brother asked, "Mommy, do they speak English there?"

"Wasn't that prescient," she joked, sparking a burst of guffaws.

A former Hewlett-Packard chief executive who left the troubled company with a severance package worth an estimated $21 million to $42 million, Fiorina also bucked the populist tide against lavish corporate salaries by denouncing President Obama's effort to cap annual pay at $500,000 for leaders of banks taking federal bailout money.

Originally posted by Josh Marshall from Talking Points Memo, on February 22, 2009 3:33 PM

(via spytap, originally posted by ktns311)

The fact that this image is so popular (87 notes/reblogs and counting) makes me feel less old than I usually feel reading my Tumblr dashboard. 

The Femmes will always be cool, I suppose. 

Originally posted by (author unknown) from shey.net, on February 22, 2009 2:25 PM

2arrs2ells:

Tumblr is much smarter about this, and “freezes” your dashboard as you read through it. When you navigate to the next page, you see the next group of posts without repeats. New posts don’t show up (and “push” everything down) until you refresh the dashboard home.

This is what the big numbers in Dashboard page URLs are for (/dashboard/2/80000000). I always love the (rare) times when people notice this because it was my baby. David hates ugly URLs, so this was one of those ideas I couldn’t just bring up while brainstorming — instead, I just implemented it one afternoon in development and said, “Hey, let me show you something cool.”

It’s one of the little things we’ve picked up over time, like aggressively giving every checkbox a clickable or letting the registration form behave like a login form (go ahead, try it), that so many web apps should do if they can. It’s all about the little things.

We need a place to find and share these sorts of ideas.

Originally posted by (author unknown) from Marco.org, on February 22, 2009 2:13 PM

The Mets drafted RHP Robert Parnell in the ninth round of the 2005 First-Year Player Draft.

Here is my interview today with Parnell, who talks about learning a split-finger fastball from J.J. Putz:

Here is a one question and answer, in text, from the interview:

Matthew Cerrone: There’s talk that you might pitch in the bullpen.  Obviously, you come from being a starter.  How is that different for you mentally, and what can you pick up from guys like Putz?

Robert Parnell: Well, last year coming up from the minors and going in to the bullpen, just being up here with the guys I learned a lot about myself and how to come out of the bullpen.  This year I feel like I am more prepared for it.  I’ll just go out there and throw an inning, if they need two I’ll throw two, if they need three I’ll throw three.  I just take it an inning at time.

Matthew Cerrone: Did they have any advice for you?

Robert Parnell: (Smile), uh, just stay patient and see what happens.

Matthew Cerrone: That smile suggests that maybe there was and you’re just not gonna tell me (laughing)?

Robert Parnell: Well, uhm, not really, I mean, you get here and you’re just another pitcher that’s got to prove what he’s got – so, like I said, I’m just gonna be patient and take one inning at a time.

Originally posted by Matthew Cerrone from MetsBlog.com, on February 22, 2009 1:44 PM

It seems that 1987 Topps is a pretty popular set to build nowadays, which is okay with me because I’ve got two 800 count boxes filled with duplicates.  I bought so much of this stuff when it came out just so I could finish the set.

While pulling cards for a trade that may help jump start my 1989 Upper Deck quest, I found Joaquín Andújar in an Oakland A’s jersey.  I’d forgotten all about that.

Oakland's green was made for baseball cards

Joaquín was quite the character while in the majors and maddeningly inconsistent, too.  In 1982 for the Cardinals he was brilliant, going 15-10 with a 2.47 ERA.  In 1983, he struggled to go 6-16.  In 1984, he led the NL in wins and was a 20 game winner.  In 1985 he continued that success for the first four moths of the season before falling apart in August and the playoffs.  St. Louis would then trade him to Oakland in the off season.

1986 would be the beginning of the end for Andújar’s career.  It was around this time that Andújar started talking about some sort of conspiracy to get him out of baseball, a conspiracy that included self admitted cocaine abuse during a court trail and sustaining an injury while taking batting practice as a pitcher in American League.  That injury along with others would ruin his 1987 season and by 1989 he was out of baseball.

Perhaps even stranger than Andújar himself is the fact that Topps includes on the back of his card.

I’m at a loss on this one.  Is there an Andújar fan out there who can explain what that means?

Originally posted by handcollated from Hand Collated, on February 22, 2009 12:43 PM

Faith Popcorn, noted "futurist" of the early 1990s, was mainly known as one of New York's worst bosses 15 years later. As the attached job listing shows, she's maintaining that reputation.

A job-hunting tipster found the Popcorn job description (above) posted on LinkedIn. The bits about the "60+ hour workweek," "wild pace" and needing to "thrive on stress" were sufficient to drive this person away in terror.

Popcorn doesn't appear to have updated the job description in years; she mentions "a four-year-old Chinese girl" even though her own Chinese daughter — Georgica Sawn Pond Rose Petal Qi Xin, for reals — should be 11 by now and have long since settled on a primary "Gifted and Talented school."

Then again, maybe Popcorn doesn't need to adapt her corporate materials as the years go by. As she no doubt appreciates, today's job market bears a closer resemblance to the futurist's recessionary heyday of nearly two decades ago than to any economic period of recent memory.

Originally posted by Ryan Tate from Gawker, on February 22, 2009 12:39 PM

Last Friday we met to conduct a volatile spiritual intervention involving dark matter and vapors. The crew was rightfully concerned.

View the full gallery

Originally posted by Kevin Cuddeback from Gimme! Coffee News, on February 22, 2009 11:15 AM

Penelope Umbrico’s Suns from Flickr

I’m speaking @ tomorrow’s Ignite NYC event, where each presenter has 5 minutes to get through 20 slides. (15 seconds per slide!? ZOMG.)
I’ll be the fast-talking, nervous blond with the lo-tech deck, entitled Overcrowded - How crowd sourcing is ruining everything.

Get your nerd on and come on down. Won’t you please?

Ignite NYC III - Monday, February 23 | 6:30-10:00PM @ Santos Party House
(96 Lafayette St (between Walker + White)
You can RSVP — not necessary, but appreciated — on Facebook or via Eventbrite.

Schedule
6:30PM- Doors
6:30-7:30PM- Happy Hour: $2 Buds and $5 mixed drink
7:30-8PM- Know Your Meme: The Game Show! Pwn, Win, or Fail! with Rocketboom

Rocketboom will kickoff the night with “Know Your Meme: The Game Show! Pwn, Win, or Fail!” Hosted by the cast of Know Your Meme: Jamiedubs, Elspethjane, and Yatta. Contestants: Rex Sorgatz, Gavin Purcell (Attack of the Show / Jimmy Fallon Show), Peter Rojas (Engadget / RCRD LBL), and Kelly Reeves (URLesque) vs Michelle DeForest, Bre Pettis, Caroline McCarthy, and Tim Shey. The game show that tests your knowledge of all things Internet in just twenty questions and a lightning round.

Ignite Speakers
Jen Bekman- “Overcrowded”
Alex Bisceglie- “DataVisualization: Muppet Fur Coats”
Dennis Crowley- “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Family Feud in Under 5 Minutes”
Cory Forsyth- “How to Piss Off the FCC”
Michael Galpert- “Images On the Internets Seem Realer Than They Are”
Andrew Hoppin
Jonathan Kahan- “Cutting Edge Technology: The Samurai Sword”
Jaki Levy- “How to Screw up Your Reputation Or the Reputation of Your Company Online”
Jooyoung Oh- “Unemployment 101″
David Overholt- “Fail Often”
Ed Purver- “A Show of Hands”
Scott Rafer- “An Overnight Success in Just 15 Years”
Britta Riley- “R&D-I-Y”
Karen Sandler- “Unchain My Heart”
Naveen Selvadurai- “In Case of FIre, Break Glass”
Rob Seward- “The Collective Unconscious of 1980s Florida”
Noah B. Zark- “Near Future Augmented Reality Systems”

Follow @ignitenyc on Twitter
Subscribe to their RSS feed: http://ignite.oreilly.com/new-york-city/

Digg This    Save to Del.icio.us

Originally posted by Jen Bekman from Personism, on February 22, 2009 9:10 AM

A little more than two years ago, Brent Simmons came to me with an intriguing proposition. Would I be willing to talk with NewsGator about the possibility of taking over MarsEdit, the desktop blog editing software Brent had developed as an adjunct to his RSS feed reader, NetNewsWire.

My answer was about as close to “hell, yes!” as one can get in a business context without appearing completely cavalier and freewheeling. I got in touch with the folks at NewsGator, who were as forthcoming and friendly as anybody could hope for. Within a few short weeks we had ironed out a deal and agreed that MarsEdit would become a property of Red Sweater Software.

We announced the deal two years ago today. Just looking back to the screenshot of MarsEdit from that announcement reminds me of how much things have changed since then:

• Added Flickr integration.
• Overhauled the post editor and main window UI.
• Enhanced markup macros for extremely powerful editing.
• Improved the speed and accuracy of the HTML preview.
• Support for saving drafts on blog server.
• Support for systems based on new AtomPub technology.
• Support for adding categories directly from MarsEdit.

I’m currently working on a bunch of new stuff. MarsEdit 2.3 is coming soon, and includes the previously promised support for Tumblr, which I know many folks are looking forward to. In my not so humble opinion, the Tumblr support is turning out quite well.

I tend not to share specifics of my future plans, because things are always in flux and subject to change. But I can assure you I will not be resting no my laurels. Lots of awesome features are high on my list. 2009 will be an exciting year for MarsEdit, if an exhausting one for me. I hope you’ll continue to check in on our progress as we find our way into the future.

Originally posted by Daniel Jalkut from Red Sweater Blog, on February 22, 2009 6:30 AM