My punctuation questions provoked good comments, including a grammar correction from Meg (which created the opportunity for a [third {level of} parenthetical] comment) and two professional citations from Hannah: Per Strunk and White, third edition, Elementary Rules of Usage #8: Use a dash to set off an abrupt break or interruption, and to announce a […]
Archives for May 2006
May 31, 2006
Nature Abhors a Vacuum
Fast Company on changing your behavior: If you want to change something in your life, it’s common to try to stop the behaviors you don’t like. While this certainly seems logical, it seldom works. The reason is simple – it unintentionally creates a vacuum where the old behaviors used to be. And since nature hates […]
May 30, 2006
Resonant Rice
For all the psychoacoustic shamen out there: What happens if you pour rice on a steel plate and subject it to high sound pressure? It makes interesting patterns as the frequency rises.
May 29, 2006
What Up That?—Yo.
My brother-in-law said this yesterday at the Circle-Y barbecue. It made me laugh. The phrase has just enough words to convey something, yet not enough of them to resolve the ambiguity. Add the street slang (he’s a law officer) coming from a white boy (though, from New Jersey) and somehow it just stuck with me. […]
May 29, 2006
[ANN] [AD] Notio Guestroom
The Notio Guestroom is now open for reservations. Located in north-central New England, two hours north of Boston, five hours north of NYC, three hours south of Montreal. Private setting on a dirt road. 30 minutes from Hanover and the quaint home of Dartmouth College, known as the heart of liberalism in NH. On-site or […]
May 26, 2006
So That Explains It
I always wondered why so many people voted for Bush when his policies are in direct opposition to their own interests. I remember this most vividly when a relative, who was pro-Bush and a big proponent of lower interest rates and taxes, realized in retirement that low interest rates meant that fixed-income returns were also […]
May 25, 2006
Which is Weirder, the Beard or the Tie?
VT Senator Patrick Leahy with Bob Weir, May 23, 2006. It looks like a good time was had by all. More.
May 23, 2006
Nike+iPod
Amazing advance in product sophistication. Apple partners with Nike on a blockbuster idea. Buy special (Nike) running shoes with a sensor in the footbed. The wireless sensor talks with a small receiver pluged into the dock connector of the (Apple) iPod. A special version of software takes over the display, and adds voice feedback cues […]
May 23, 2006
Pragmatic Technology Strategy
Yesterday Mark and I drove down to Andover MA to meet with Walden. We three are running a (pro-bono) session for a Coop consulting group next month on technology strategy. Because Kate wasn’t feeling well, we went to Panera for three hours. The place was hoppin’ with businesspeople! Above you see Walden coaching Mark on […]
May 23, 2006
Best Comment Spam Ever
Love this: “There seems to be a problem adding comments. I tried three times.” Yes, Trevor, when you’re commenting on posts that are two years old, the spam filter shuts you out for moderation. When I go to the moderation page and I see that you’re posting a lot of crap to a lot of […]
May 20, 2006
They Call It A Brand
In contrast to privacy and civil rights, US consumerism continues to be healthy. Friday saw the opening of a 20,000 sq. ft. Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. It’s open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The entrance is a remarkable glass cube, which you enter to descend down to the underground […]
May 20, 2006
The Principles Underlying Our System Are Actually Better
This post at TPM sums up my feelings on the US national security situation exactly: […] is just this dogmatic post-9/11 insistence on acting as if human history began suddenly in 1997 or something. The United States was able to face down such threats as the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany without indefinite detentions, widespread […]
May 19, 2006
What Filmmakers Do For Fun
Here’s a novel idea: Make a film, and charge people $1 to be listed as a producer. The result is a one-second film with 90 minutes of credits. THE 1 SECOND FILM is a 70mm non-profit collaborative film bringing thousands of diverse people around the world together to create film history: ‘The biggest shortest film […]
May 19, 2006
What Nerds Do For Fun
This is beautiful: Closures; an Italian Sonnet, by Bruce Williams. What’s a closure, you ask? Here’s Martin Fowler’s description: Closures have been around for a long time. I ran into them properly for the first time in Smalltalk where they’re called Blocks. Lisp uses them heavily. They’re also present in the Ruby scripting language – […]
May 18, 2006
One Possible Explanation for Obesity
I woke up this morning wondering why human muscle mass is such an attractive feature in our culture today. That is, why are fit people with defined muscles “more attractive” than couch potatoes. My mind leaped to the idea that this taps into a primitive part of our brain that says, “If times get tough, […]
May 17, 2006
I Feel Safer Now
A couple of monster military jets just flew over the house. Those puppies are loud and fast. By the time you get to the window they’re already cruising down the valley disappearing out of sight. Boys with toys. Practicing for the Big Day. Probably fun to do, in that all-powerful dominant I Am God way. […]
May 16, 2006
Gratuitous Name-Dropping
[Attention conservation notice: This post contains little of actual value.] I spoke with Jeffrey Zeldman today. (I just have to say it again—I spoke with Jeffrey Zeldman today!) A client is evaluating technical vendors. One of the prospects wrote a strong proposal, really kind of in-your-face for this small northern New England college, but she […]
May 16, 2006
Semantics
Seen on the back of a food bank van in Cambridge, MA: “When I give food to the poor they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food they call me a communist.” — Dom Hélder Camara Dig.
May 14, 2006
Flying Carpet
Great idea: This project consists of an aerial view of the Sacramento River that is woven into a carpet for the floor of a pedestrian bridge connecting the terminal to the parking garage. This image represents approximately 50 miles of the Sacramento River starting just outside of Colusa, California and ending about 6 miles south […]