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August 24, 2008
The Google Magic 8 BallYesterday afternoon, my assorted nieces and nephews clustered around the ol’ laptop, googling their name + the word “needs,” and reading aloud the amusing results. Amusing!
Categories: digital culture, misc Date: August 24th, 2008
August 8, 2008
Slow motion lightningSlow motion lightning This explanation comes from Lenski the comments section of the Huffington Post where I found the video:
Categories: misc Date: August 8th, 2008
August 6, 2008
Up to 30% off, and more!In two separate reports of the eleven deaths in the K2 disaster, I’ve seen a version of this sentence:
If eleven is still more than seven, then that sentence is incoherent. (It comes from an AP report by Stephen Graham.) And, yes, I do understand that grammatical errors are less important than mountaineering deaths. And, yes, I do seem to having a crotchety day :(
Google export for Google Expats and for everyoneChris Brogan recounts the scary tale of Nick Saber getting locked out of his Google accounts for no apparent reason. Did I say “his” accounts? That’s just the problem. Technically, all your accounts are belong to Google. I am heavily invested in Google as a user (although totally not invested as a shareholder…maybe I got that backwards). A lockout would be a disaster for me. If Google wants us to love it enough that we’ll unite our data in holy matrimony, Google really really needs a way to let us regain and re-own our data. All of it all at once. A big red “Export up everything onto my hard disk button” would be great, although I understand that Google doesn’t want me re-downloading 800,000 emails every night. Some reasonable limits would be reasonable. Even authorizing a third party or two to mirror data for those of us who choose to subscribe to that service would give us some measure of reassurance. If it’s going to be ’til death do us part, Google should not be allowed to decide exactly when it thinks we’re dead.
Categories: misc Date: August 6th, 2008
July 27, 2008
Alone and clicklessI’m on a working vacation for the next few days — who’s counting? — in the lovely but rain torn Berkshires, in my family’s ramshack (is that the noun form of ramshackle?). My wife is away for the day, returning tomorrow, so I’m alone. I spend a lot of time alone. I’m an introvert, so I like it, perhaps too much. But, like you, I’ve gotten used to being alone in a sea of clicks. Click and I can browse. Click and I can see what my friends are doing. Click and I can respond to what’s being written. But here we have no Internet. I am alone and clickless. And feeling it more than I would have thought. Relax? I’m not tense. Take it easy? I’ve been reading all day. If I’m going to be alone, I’d at least like some reading that I can talk back to…
Categories: misc Date: July 27th, 2008
July 18, 2008
But enough about me. Now lets talk about bunnies, pancakes, and their intersection.July 7, 2008
Google tipsPC Mag has a bunch of Google tips. Some are familiar, but some were new to me. E.g., I didn’t know Google could give us transit directions.
Categories: misc Date: July 7th, 2008
July 6, 2008
Bill Gates’ hidden talentAs Bill Gates moves on from Microsoft, let us not forget one of his lesser-sung skills:
Categories: misc Date: July 6th, 2008
July 3, 2008
Tim Bray on ISO’s ladidah-ing OOXML challengesTim Bray blogs about the head of ISO pooh-poohing the concerns about the way that Microsoft’s OOXML document format was strong-armed through his organization.
Categories: misc Date: July 3rd, 2008
July 2, 2008
This is your brain. This is your brain on a cell phone.June 26, 2008
Embarrassing Idiot MomentI was having breakfast in the lobby of the lovingly eccentric Fox Hotel in Copenhagen this mrning, wondering why the staff didn’t answer the particularly loud and annoying phone that rang the entire time. When I heard the same electronic ringing tone in the elevator, and then in the hallway outside my room, I thought that perhaps one of the hotel alarms had been triggered. When I got into my room and heard it I realized I’d set the wake-up alarm on the cellphone strapped to my hip. My only question is: On whom can I blame this? I’m thinking Dick Cheney, and I’m open to suggestions for possible causal chains.
Categories: misc Date: June 26th, 2008
June 13, 2008
Oil prices: The spreadsheetHere’s a table of oil prices since 1984, day by day. You can also download it as a spreadsheet, and then you can graph it, in order to get a visual display of quantitative information that confirms that gas prices have pretty much gone up overall. Alternatively, you could take your car in for a fill-up.
Categories: misc Date: June 13th, 2008
June 12, 2008
Alps ‘n’ BalcsA couple of centuries ago, people traveling through the Alps used to pull the curtains on the windows on the carriages because the scene was just too terrible. I wonder if the same sort of thinking explains why so few New York City hotels have balconies. Did the architects think the street scenes were ugly, scary, or uninteresting? Or was it because of something more mundane, such as weather or concerns about plummeting martini glasses? Oh well. Too bad. I’d love to be sitting on a balcony now, watching the sun redden the Empire State Building.
Categories: misc Date: June 12th, 2008
June 4, 2008
Unfortunate subject lineI received an email with this subject line
Wondering how I got on this particular spam list, I clicked on it. Turns out it’s spam for the Je-Watch jewelry exhibition in Saudi Arabia, under the patronage of HRH Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz, Governor of the Eastern Province. Whew.
Categories: misc Date: June 4th, 2008
June 2, 2008
Shell gameGoosh.org is a text-only interface to Google and Wikipedia that will make your inner unix geek giggle inappropriately. It looks like a unix shell, but it isn’t (which, as Zouden at slashdot points out, means that you can’t do unix-y, pipe-y things with the results you get back). Alas, it doesn’t work on my Blackberry’s ultracrappy Web browser. On the other hand, Google’s mobile client works pretty well.
Categories: misc Date: June 2nd, 2008
May 29, 2008
Verizon’s crankIt turns out that if you’re a Verizon cell phone customer, you should dial *228 every month or so. It updates your software and the list of available towers (or something). Given the totalitarian control Verizon and the other carriers exert over “your” cell phone, I don’t see why they can’t just do that automatically. Go figure. Actually, figuring is probably just a waste of time.
Categories: misc Date: May 29th, 2008
Unuttered famous quotationsHmm. I went to confirm the source of the famous quotation “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing,” and found at WikiQuote that although it’s commonly ascribed to Edmund Burke, he didn’t actually write it. In fact, as far as we (= Martin Porter 1 2) can tell, no one did. Well, play it again, Sam!
Categories: misc Date: May 29th, 2008
May 13, 2008
Bluetooth celebrity encountersI’m in Las Vegas, and my Blackberry just tried to do a bluetooth pairing with “Brenda Lee.” Do we now have a whole new — and easily spoofed — type of Celebrity Encounter? And how many degrees from Kevin Bacon does that make me?
Categories: misc Date: May 13th, 2008
May 12, 2008
Ethanz is recovering from his eye surgeryHe’s doing well, although the recovery is going slower than he’d like. Men well, ethanz.
Categories: misc Date: May 12th, 2008
May 9, 2008
1860 Census now open for browsingFootnote has posted the 1860 Census with its usual array of tools and goodies, some of which require a free membership. But the basic browsing and viewing is open to all. Footnote does a nice job with this stuff, including annotation tools and other social amenities. For those who are keeping score, there were about a dozen David Weinbergers listed in the census that year, including one whom the FBI investigated I think for draft dodging.
Categories: everythingIsMiscellaneous, misc Date: May 9th, 2008
May 5, 2008
My heart’s with ethanzBest of luck to Ethan Zuckerman, he of the big heart and huge brain, as he undergoes eye surgery…
Categories: misc Date: May 5th, 2008
May 3, 2008
Numeric self-esteemEvery number is special. Every one. Even you, 64, my little lowest-number-with-seven-divisors. And especially you, 6014, my little square formed by 3 squares that overlap by 1 digit.
Categories: misc Date: May 3rd, 2008
A guy I didn’t likeLast night I met a guy who I disliked after only a few minutes of conversation. That’s unusual for me. I wanted to get out of his presence, which is also unusual. Weirdest of all, couldn’t figure out why I didn’t like him. There was nothing wrong with him. If you asked me, I wouldn’t be able to come up with a single explanatory factor. Only after I’d politely exempted myself from his presence did I realize why I didn’t like him: For whatever psychological reason, I found myself becoming competitive, trying to impress him. In his presence, I was an a-hole. It was me, not him. And it makes me wonder how often the people I don’t like I don’t like because I don’t like who I am with them.
Categories: misc Date: May 3rd, 2008
April 7, 2008
Norwegian demonstration against Open XML’s acceptanceSteve Pepper is calling for a demonstration against Norway’s flaky acceptance of Open XML as an ISO standard, AKA Caving in to Microsoft. Here’s a list of the “irregularities” of the process.
February 29, 2008
Ethan at TEDDon’t miss Ethan Zuckerman’s live blogging of TED. Ethan makes live-blogging read like edited blogging.
Dept. of Names We Did Not Make UpFrom the NY Times article on Prince Harry being withdrawn from combat:
Categories: misc Date: February 29th, 2008
February 21, 2008
Tough metaphorThe NY Times:
API’s explained as software blueprints? Seems like a stretch to me, but I don’t have a better metaphor in mind…
Categories: misc Date: February 21st, 2008
February 4, 2008
New issue of JohoI just published the Feb 04, 2008 issue of my (free) newsletter:
Categories: misc Date: February 4th, 2008
February 2, 2008
OMG, Jenna is marrying her fatherI hadn’t seen a picture of Jenna Bush’s fiance until just now:
You wouldn’t think an Oedipal/Elektra complex would be heritable…
Categories: misc Date: February 2nd, 2008
January 26, 2008
Fairplay casinosGov. Deval Patrick plans on funding necessary and humane projects in Massachusetts by licensing three casinos. I’m not crazy about that idea, in part because casinos stack the odds against customers. The house always wins. That’s unfair, even though casinos are transparent it. If we’re going to finance public programs on the backs of the desperate, we at least ought to give our local pigeons fair odds. So, why not require Massachusetts casinos to pay out at odds that factor in no cut for the house? If there’s a 1:38 chance your number will come up at the roulette table, your winning number would be paid at 38:1, not 36:1. Even without their edge (5.26% in roulette), the casinos would make money selling food, liquor, lodging, parking, pay-per-porn in-room tv, and tickets to entertainers you thought died fifteen years ago. Not only would this keep the state from profiting from an industry predicated on unfairness, it would also give Massachusetts casinos a competitive edge against the casinos in those other states. Why would you gamble in a place where the odds are stacked against you if you could instead “A mass more wealth in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts…the Fair Play State.”
January 23, 2008
RulesOfThumb.orgAt this quite new site you can post your favorite rules of thumb and rate others. For example: “When youre playing blackjack, assume that any unseen card is an 8.” “The crossbar on your bicycle frame should come just to your crotch when you straddle the bike with your shoes off and your feet flat on the ground.”
Categories: misc Date: January 23rd, 2008
January 10, 2008
Please don’t ask me if I remember youSomeone I would have been so happy to see after all these years - 30- of them! - came up to me this morning and asked me, “Do you remember me?” Oh do I hate that question! I don’t remember what I had for breakfast, my previous address, or my own feet. Is there ever a time when “Do you remember me?” is a socially ok question to ask? And, by the way, throwing in hints only makes it worse. How many times do you want me to acknowledge that my memory is crap and I am utterly self-involved before we get around to re-establishing our old bonds? Yes, I am a cranky old man.
Categories: misc Date: January 10th, 2008
January 7, 2008
Braille questionOn the Canadian train I was on this morning, the signs in the bathroom were in English, French and Braille. Nice. But I actually don’t understand. How do the blind know that there’s a sign there in the first place? Are they supposed to run their hands over the walls of the bathroom looking for the “Please be courteous and leave this bathroom clean” sign? Or are the Braille signs for the partially sighted?
Categories: misc Date: January 7th, 2008
December 24, 2007
Digital camera guideDave Sifry’s written a simple, clear, personal guide to buying a digital camera outfit. Very helpful. Thanks, Dave!
Categories: misc Date: December 24th, 2007
December 23, 2007
Where does the blood go?Someone I know and love is in the hospital. He’s doing well, thank you. But I am confused. They have given him 10 pints of blood to help with a blood disease that results in the destruction of red blood cells. Ten pints is a lot. Yet, his blood pressure has remained steady. As you add fluid to a contained system, shouldn’t the pressure increase? He reports that he is not urinating particularly much. So, where is the blood going? Just curious.
Categories: misc Date: December 23rd, 2007
December 22, 2007
Why I love empathsRecently, I was at a friend’s house for dinner. We basically agree about politics although he is to the left of my leftishness. So we talked for a long time about the Neocons’ real motivations for invading Iraq. He sees more of a direct oil company conspiracy than I do. But the content doesn’t matter. The point is that I thought we were having a friendly disagreement. So did he. But a few times as the conversation wended on, the friend’s young wife — noticeably younger than he — interrupted, suggesting that we talk about something else. “No, no,” I said, “We’re just talking.” And yet, we argued ourselves out onto the part of the bridge of friendship where the pavement is thin and the supports are rickety. And then we got within a couple of comments of outright vexation, if not actual anger. We didn’t know we were headed that way. We thought we were not. We’re adults having an interesting conversation. We can handle it. But my friend’s wife was so empathetic that she could see the future. She knew better. Moral: Always listen to your empath friends. They are smarter than you, and much smarter than you think you are.
Categories: misc Date: December 22nd, 2007
December 8, 2007
Cutest. YouTube. Ever.Ok, so I’m the 9 millionth person to see this, but try to watch this otter-based video without going “Awwwwwwww.”
Categories: misc Date: December 8th, 2007
November 24, 2007
When you need an excuse, any excuseThere are times when you don’t want to do something ,and you know it’s ok not to but you can’t think of an excuse. That’s when we could really use a crowd-sourced excuse. Or an online excuse exchange. Oh, where are the Internets when you need them?! (This arose in a conversation with Paul Hartzog.)
November 17, 2007
Chumby for ChanukahDave’s convinced me. I’m going to ask for my family to contribute toward buying me a Chumby for Chanukah. Using it simply as a (rather small) digital picture frame practically justifies the price by itself. Add in its openness and general coolness, and I want one!
Categories: misc Date: November 17th, 2007
November 16, 2007
MacArthur grants Berkman $4MThe Berkman Center has received a $4 million grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (for four million, we spell out the entire name) to support the Center’s tenth anniversary and beyond. This is fantastic news. The Berkman Center is part of Harvard Law but relies on the kindness of others for financial support. From the Berkman posting about the MacArthur grant:
Thank you, John D. and Catherine T.!
Categories: misc Date: November 16th, 2007
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Everything Is Miscellaneous A "page-turner ... makes the consequences of the changes clearer than any work before", Frankfurter Allegemeine Complete list of reviews, good bad and indifferent (with some commentary from me)
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