Crusty old out-of-it white guy

History Train: “It really will say something about this country if Obama, with all his intellect, his verbal gifts and his strategic canniness, ends up losing to a crusty old out-of-it white guy who left his principles in the dumpster years ago and has nothing to offer this country but the chance for conservatives to […]

Obama’s Electoral Map

Must read for any political junkie. via Dave Winer

Approximately one in four odds, depending on your bias

Days can be characterized in one of four ways: Outstanding, Fine, Difficult, and Off.

Loop and chill

One-hour hand-recorded 54MB mp3 of Ocean Beach waves, San Francisco, 2008-05-14. Loop and chill. A gift, via Jessamyn.

Summary of political pundantry today

In only four minutes! Matt Yglesias: “Conservative radio host Kevin James is on Hardball to call Barack Obama and appeaser, and Chris Matthews hits upon the nice idea of asking James to explain what it was that Chamberlain did wrong at Munich. As becomes apparent, James has no idea! He just likes to say “appeasement” […]

The day there was no news

At least I can dream…

All you need to know about fashion photos

New Yorker: Pascal Dangin is the premier retoucher of fashion photographs. Art directors and admen call him when they want someone who looks less than great to look great, someone who looks great to look amazing, or someone who looks amazing already—whether by dint of DNA or M·A·C—to look, as is the mode, superhuman. (Christy […]

Spirograph

Gwad, I loved the Spirograph.

Letter to JG

And, completing the morning’s blogging, a beautiful 1996 letter from lyricist Robert Hunter to his friend and primary writing partner Jerry Garcia, one year after Garcia’s death. Your funeral service was one hell of a scene. Maureen and I took Barbara and Sara in and sat with them. MG waited over at our place. Manasha […]

Pioneers vs Feudalists

Fascinating 1982 essay by Jim Bowery. Pioneers want to be left alone to do their work and enjoy its fruits. Feudalists say “no man is an island” and feel the pioneer is a “hick” or worse, an escapist. Feudalists view themselves as lords and pioneers as serfs. Pioneers view feudalists as either irrelevant or as […]

Hubris, Denial, and the Financial Services Culture

Interesting behind the scenes report of the Milken Conference and pervasive “Republican/Chicago School of Economics ideology” in the face of a looming great depression. via John Robb.

One consequence of specialization is extinction

Sobering reflections from Robert Rich, on making a living as a musical artist in the long tail, based on his life data from the past 30 years. In reality the life of a “microcelebrity” resembles more the fate of Sisyphus, whose boulder rolls back down the mountain every time he reaches the summit. After every […]

Synchronizing Five Metronomes

via Kottke.

RIP Albert Hofmann

At 102.

Twistori

Most wonderful new Internet toy, twistori.

US politics snapshot, all you need to know edition

Henninger/Wall Street Journal Halperin/Time/CNN Sullivan/Atlantic Drew/Politico Ambinder/Atlantic

Quote of the Day

Scott Heriferman: “Sadly, no time to really get into Twitter. For me, to stay healthy AND lead a needed meme (meetup to go from 5M to 500M people, ~$10M to $100M+ rev, and 20K to 200K successful meetup groups), can’t get sucked in.”

Revolution Fashion Show 2008

Saturday we went to the Revolution Fashion show in White River Junction (VT). I brought the new camera, and I learned a lot about using it. Witness the top 30. I made 300 photos, culled 100 that were junk, and tried to select the top 30 to tell a story through the titles. Tech details: […]

Thriving Office

The Sounds of Success: Home businesses know they must seem successful to become successful. So they play Thriving Office while on the phone. This valuable CD, which is filled with the sounds people expect to hear from an established company, provides instant credibility. It’s amazing what the world has come to.

Shine A Light

Martin Scorsese has a new film opening tonight, a musical documentary on the Rolling Stones, filmed in 2006, called Shine A Light. It’s big news in the Intertubes Classic Rock spaces. Here’s the trailer (2:44): And here’s Jumpin’ Jack Flash, the (complete) first song from the movie (4:10): What strikes me most is how healthy […]