March 31, 2005
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best quote: "Ma'am, we're not going to go down there and escort your Western bacon cheeseburger."
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your vessel now follows your soul (where news trucks and schisters can't follow)
The architecture of intermediation
quote: "All I really want to do is redirect a small subset of my del.icio.us transactions to a private datastore, and make the del.icio.us interface aware of that datastore. So I took a few tentative steps down another path. I set up a local web proxy and explore"
Social Security Switch-Hitters
image from Talking Points Memo
Let's talk Social Security for a moment. I will have more to say on this issue in the upcoming week, but I want to point out some really good work that has been going on lately. Joshua Micah Marshall of Talking Points Memo has been doing a bang-up job tracking the ins and outs of the President's Social Security privatization schemes. Specifically, highlighting Democratic members who who wish to end Social Security because their little hearts are too faint - inducting them into the Fainthearted Faction - and Republican members who let their conscience dictate their position who are inducted into the The Conscience Caucus. His site is the read if you are interested in what is currently going on.
Especially wholly great, and worthwhile, is Marshall's study of the President's Bamboozlepalooza tour throughout the nation, which is a roaring success (not). The President even warned us today that there would be political consequences for not supporting a hugely (immensely!) unpopular program such as privatizing (getting rid of) Social Security. Who is he kidding? Dems can run on Delay and saving Social security from now until '08. I have to agree with Kevin Drum: the political cowardice the President has shown throughout his Bamboozlepalooza is quite breathtaking.
But, poking fun of the President is only part of what I wanted to talk about. Josh Marshall has created another list for our enjoyment: the Social Security Switch-Hitters. This list highlights representatives who either have lied about privitization, engaged in serious double-talk, or who have outright changed positions on Social Security all in order to poke fun and heap scorn on them.
This is how you do it: scorn and laughter combined with a dash of wonk will win the day. Especially if you have nicely designed logos such as the one at the top of this post and memorable names. This is where the design community can come in and make a difference. Combine snark and wonk into an unbeatable combination. More like this please.
March 30, 2005
March 29, 2005
On Why Harvard Students are Sad and Pathetic
or, how mopy Harvard students make this state schooler happy
The Tenement Museum: Suddenly Evil?
Battle of two evils: sounds like the Tenament Museum was in a mand-grab but the owners soak up $1,700 per apt per month.
Microstructure in the Long Tail
The Long Tail might be made up of multiple, smaller tails
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so wrong
Owner of Washington Times states it's time to end American democracy
ahh, the Moonie Times, can you go away, please?
List of Schiavo Donors Will Be Sold by Direct-Marketing Firm
Peak Blooming Period Announced at National Cherry Blossom Festival
April 4-9th expect some NY'rs nick
Good, I'm not the only one with a blog
(in my group of friends)
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posted without comment or criticism
Webtrepreneur
I dub this year the year of the Web entrepreneur! Which someone can shorten to the tacky Webtrepreneur in the future if they like, much like the word Blog. First Kottke strikes out on his own , the Flickr is bought by Yahoo! and now Joshua Schachter developer of del.icio.us has quit his job to work full-time on del.icio.us!
Here, in his words, is the announcement:
After seeing my little project go from a small hobby to a large one and then consume all my waking hours, I've decided to quit my job and work on del.icio.us full time.
I've given a lot of thought to how to make this happen, and ultimately decided that the best way forward is to take on some outside investment.
I've taken this step because it lets me continue to grow del.icio.us while keeping it independent.
I am excited to finally be able to devote all of my energy to working on and improving this site, and I'll also be able to acquire some much-needed infrastructure.
I'm still in charge of the site and still committed to making it as good as it can be.
I think what sets del.icio.us apart is the passion of the community that has organized around it, and I hope I can continue to rely on your ideas, help, and goodwill. Together we have made the site the success it is today.
FBI Aids Saudis After 9/11
Wow, Michael Moore was right about the FBI helping Saudis leave the country after 9/11, but appears to have been wrong about the timing:
Now, newly released government records show previously undisclosed flights from Las Vegas and elsewhere and point to a more active role by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in aiding some of the Saudis in their departure.
The F.B.I. gave personal airport escorts to two prominent Saudi families who fled the United States, and several other Saudis were allowed to leave the country without first being interviewed, the documents show.
The Saudi families, in Los Angeles and Orlando, requested the F.B.I. escorts because they said they were concerned for their safety in the wake of the attacks, and the F.B.I. - which was then beginning the biggest criminal investigation in its history - arranged to have agents escort them to their local airports, the documents show.
The F.B.I. records show, for instance, that prominent Saudi citizens left the United States on several flights that had not been previously disclosed in public accounts, including a chartered flight from Providence, R.I., on Sept. 14, 2001, that included at least one member of the Saudi royal family, and three flights from Las Vegas between Sept. 19 and Sept. 24, also carrying members of the Saudi royal family. The government began reopening airspace on Sept. 13, but many flights remained grounded for days afterward.
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In several other cases, Saudi travelers were not interviewed before departing the country, and F.B.I. officials sought to determine how what seemed to be lapses had occurred, the documents show.
emphasis added
The problem is trying to pinpoint when the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reopened US airspace to private aircraft which was used to spirit the Saudis out of the US. US airspace was reopened on 12 September 2001 for commercial aircraft to move to preplanned locations and move passengers who were on aircraft during September 11th. Full commercial airspace was reopened on or around 11am Eastern Standard Time (EST) on 13 September, but US airspace wasn't opened to private aircraft until 14 September or later. According The New York Times, US airspace was reopened to private aircraft on 13 September 2001 at 5:50pm EST. So, it seems that the Saudis flight was well within the time period allowed by the FAA.
This discussion is besides the point, and misses the big picture. Saudis connected to the Saudi regime, who indirectly support Osama bin Laden, and bin Laden's relatives were given a "get out of jail free card." Why they were allowed out without even a perfunctory examination is unknown, and has not been adequately explained by the FBI, the Administration, or their supporters. Michael Moore's argument of the connection between the House of Saud and Bush allowed the Saudis flight just doesn't cut it with me. It might be a secondary cause, but not the primary cause.
Additionally, it does not matter one wit whether or not the Saudis left before or after the airspace ban. From press accounts at the time, testimony from Richard Clarke, and the 9/11 Commission, it is apparent that the Saudis flight was during the first few days after the ban was lifted. During this time period, the volume of air traffic was between 50-60% normal, and was tightly regulated. The facts we know are that the Saudis were let go without any sort of investigation. Why they were let go, who at the FBI allowed such lax interrogation, and why was Richard Clarke directed by the White House to approve the flights? This is the story, not a conspiracy that the Saudis were let go before the airspace ban.
More documents after the jump, including a timeline, What Fahrenheit 9/11 alleged, what the 9/11 Commission found.
Continue reading "FBI Aids Saudis After 9/11"March 28, 2005
Ford tests out Hybrid Escape on NYC's worst commutes
Hollond Tunnel and GW Bridge were the best (worst)
Magnitude 8.2 Northern Sumatra, Indonesia
map from USGS Preliminary Earthquake Report
On Monday, March 28, 2005 at 16:09:37 (UTC), 11:09 EST, Northern Sumatra, Indonesia experienced a Magnitude 8.2 earthquake located 205 km (125 miles) WNW of Sibolga, Sumatra, Indonesia at a depth of 30km. For more informaion, goto the USGS Preliminary Earthquake Report.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a Tsunami Information Bulletin:
WARNING... THIS EARTHQUAKE HAS THE POTENTIAL TO GENERATE A WIDELY DESTRUCTIVE TSUNAMI IN THE OCEAN OR SEAS NEAR THE EARTHQUAKE. AUTHORITIES IN THOSE REGIONS SHOULD BE AWARE OF THIS POSSIBILITY AND TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION. THIS ACTION SHOULD INCLUDE EVACUATION OF COASTS WITHIN A THOUSAND KILOMETERS OF THE EPICENTER AND CLOSE MONITORING TO DETERMINE THE NEED FOR EVACUATION FURTHER AWAY.
According to CNN, Julie Martinez, a geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) National Earthquake Information Center, in Golden, Colorado stated "There is a potential for some wave activity."
Developing...
March 27, 2005
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flash song & music video
Japanese girls go batshit insane watching "The Ring"
video of girls screaming and crying - insane (9mb .mpg file)
Man gets hit with identity fraud, and then tracks down thieves
March 26, 2005
Take a picture, tag it with "Frist" and send it to the dear Senator
if he can diagnose Schiavo via video, he can do it by photo too
President Bush threatening to cut Social Security benefits
Additional reading: Yglesias on Threats and Warnings
Black Comedy, Act II
Unbelievable! The black comedy of Terri Schiavo continues. Who the hell is running Florida:
Hours after a judge ordered that Terri Schiavo was not to be removed from her hospice, a team of state agents were en route to seize her and have her feeding tube reinserted -- but they stopped short when local police told them they would enforce the judge's order, The Herald has learned.
Agents of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement told police in Pinellas Park, the small town where Schiavo lies at Hospice Woodside, on Thursday that they were on the way to take her to a hospital to resume her feeding.
For a brief period, local police, who have officers at the hospice to keep protesters out, prepared for what sources called "a showdown."
In the end, the squad from the FDLE and the Department of Children & Families backed down, apparently concerned about confronting local police outside the hospice.
"We told them that unless they had the judge with them when they came, they were not going to get in," said a source with the local police.
"The FDLE called to say they were en route to the scene," said an official with the city police who requested anonymity. "When the sheriff's department and our department told them they could not enforce their order, they backed off."
So let me get this straight: State Troopers and a State agency (Department of Children & Families) were directed by Jeb Bush to sweep in and literally kidnap Terri Schiavo in direct violation of a judge's order? And they were only stopped by local police who apparently know more about the law then Jeb Bush, State Troopers, and Department of Children & Families?
Save me Elian!
No wonder Shannon left a cryptic note on my last Schiavo entry using pathos, and only pathos, as her argument. I'm glad that the state of Florida has given us Elian, Bush v Gore, and now this.
This doesn't even count the guy who was arrested for offering a $250,000 reward for killing Michael Schiavo! Come on people! Even if Michael wanted Terri to be alive, multiple courts have found that HER WISHES were to not stay in a permanent vegetive state (which she is in now). Her choice - not anyone's else. Even her family agrees that she is in a permanent vegetive state:
Despite the row over money, Schiavo and the Schindlers agreed on one major point in the 2000 testimony: the extent of Terri's brain damage, according to additional court documents cited by The Miami Herald. In the documents, Pamela Campbell, then the Schindlers' lawyer, told the court that "we do not doubt that she's in a persistent vegetative state." Campbell could not be reached to confirm the statement.
Look people: Terri Schiavo's soul departed her body 15 years ago - just look at the cat scan What remains is a vessel which needs to rest. Please, let her (and us) rest.
March 25, 2005
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creating your own cd's and placing them in big-box music stores
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(via)
Regarding The CAT Scan Of Terri Schiavo’s Brain
There literally is no there there. Politics has trumped science.
Nets Arena Push Polling
Bruce Ratner is apparently push-polling about the proposed Net's arena:
Pollster: OK, next, turning back to the proposed basketball arena in Brooklyn. This arena would be the centerpiece of a large commercial and residential complex that would be built on the same site. It would include retail stores, office space and more than 4,000 units of housing for all levels of income and needs.
The retail stores and office buildings would be located adjacent to the arena at Flatbush and Atlantic avenues. The residential units would be built along Atlantic Avenue between Sixth Avenue and Vanderbilt Avenue and part of the project, six acres of land in and around the site, would be landscaped and made into public open space.
Having heard more information, do you favor or oppose plans to build a sports arena for the Nets basketball team and a commercial and residential development at this site in Brooklyn?
Hagan: I absolutely oppose the whole damn thing!
Pollster: OK.
Hagan: And by the way, that [information being read] doesn’t say that they’re going to destroy the homes and offices and businesses of more than a thousand people, and just kick them out of this neighborhood. They don’t say that.
Pollster: OK, now let me read you some different opinions about this project. Supporters of this project say that the basketball arena and the surrounding office and residential complex will bring great benefit to Brooklyn. The project will create thousands of jobs and provide some badly needed housing space for people from all different income levels in Brooklyn. It will bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in extra tax revenue each year that could be used for schools and other vital services.
Don't know if this is actually push polling, but the questions are fairly leading. The only reason we know about this is that the pollster called Prospect Heights anti-arena activist Patti Hagan and she recorded the conversation. (via Curbed)
States Visited
create your own personalized map of the USA
I know I've posted this image before, but I can't find it. But here is a fun little web-toy where you can visualize what states you have visited. Unfortunately, this map is a bit misleading, because I know for sure there are parts of California, Maine, and New York I haven't been to. Maybe I'll make based on zip codes - that would involve me dorking it out pretty high though.
March 24, 2005
Sleeptracker watch monitors your sleep and wakes you at the moment that your body is in light sleep
ZIP+4 Codes for United States Vessels
cool - US ships have xip codes (I think they are derived from the ship's port)
Using The Sims to visualize new house design
it's better than using 3-D Home Architect
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great quote: "Thing is, we don’t usually go up to adults in the real world and offer to give them a quick tutorial on not acting like oblivious morons. But, oddly enough, if you can bring yourself to do it, sometimes it works."
Awesome They Might Be Giants video by High School Student
such an infringement, but so good
Improv Everywhere - Union Square
Improv Everywhere - Union Square, originally uploaded by seanich
Improv Everywhere is a NYC-based improv collective who do really funny public improv such as the Circle Line Tour in the Union Square fountain and Synchronized Swimming in Washington Square Park fountain. For their newest public improv, they turned DSW Shoes, Forever 21 and Filene's Basement into a performance space entitled, Look Up More. This entailed 70-or so "agents" (of comedy?) taking up positions in the back-lit windows at night to do a choreographed dance performance.
This would have been awesome to see, since that building is the perfect performance space from Union square. Check out seanich's photos from the event and the Improve Everywhere write up of the mission. Also, there is a video of the event. (8megs .mp4)
Improv Everywhere - Union Square, originally uploaded by seanich
Update 29 Mar 2005
Gothamist posts about the project.
Transparent Screen
Transparent Screen - peon.master, originally uploaded by w00kie
Check out this Flickr Set: Transparent Screens. Nice trick - what happens when you move your computer?
March 23, 2005
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finally, you can design flash with direct links to states
The Brady Bunch in the land of the clones...
ok... so that was weird
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Good to see that the 9th Floor in Daniels Hall (my old res) is still living up to its' reputation
Amazon Customer Images
screenshot from amazon.com
Wow, when did Amazon.com start allowing users to upload product images? This is good, and I will tell you why. How many times have you been looking for a product, only to not have a photo available? It's happened to me. Also, even if there are photos, many times they don't tell the whole story. So Amazon gets their users to submit images of the products, thus unloading the work outside the company. Brilliant.
I wonder if this addition is in response to Google's product search, Froogle? Will tags and folksonomies be close behind?
March 22, 2005
How to Turn Your Red State Blue
sign me up
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truth in advertising
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Using the power of the sun to burn stuff
Random Destructive Acts via Focused Solar Radiation
using cheap Giant Fresnel lenses to burn stuff
The $11 LCD Photo Frame? - Hacking the Mattel JuiceBox
Here is a helpful I-Appliance Thread to get you started
Feminism and Civility and Communication (Oh My!)
"men tend to interrupt women more often than other men, and far more often than women interrupt either men or other women" - I agree, I tend to do this way too much. Needs work.
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Song for Condi - if this is best they cand do...
Abramoff, Buckham, Delay, & Norquist: Masters of Sleaze
Holy Crap, a David Brooks article I can agree with
Borrowing Building Ideas
Via friends (and later greg.org) comes the unfortunate Daniel Libeskind condo on the shores of the Ohio River in Covington, Kentucky across from Cincinnati. Notice anything similar from, oh say, the World Trade Center Master Plan writ small?
Just look at this turd of a building which reportedly was rejected months ago at the planning commission, but is back again after the design has been "altered." If altering means adding people to the rendering, then according to those close to the goings-on in Cincinnati, then yes: the building was "altered."
Additionally, greg.org talks about the Empire State Building's "Mini-me," the RJ Reynolds headquarters in Winston-Salem, NC. But actually Cincinnati has it's own pre-Empire State building, the Carew Tower which is magnitudes closer in lineage to Empire State than RJ Reynolds:
Carew Tower, originally at ohio old photos
Built by the same architects, Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, prior to Empire State, the Carew Tower is clad in the same material and system as the Empire State Building. The word on the street - by my old architecture history professor - is that as the Carew Tower was being completed, the developer of the Empire State needed a building, and needed it built fast. So the architects used the exact same building set from Carew Tower, just stretched it out in various directions to fit the site and added extra floors. The spire was added to compete with the then under construction Chrysler Building.
This story might be apophrical, but it would explain the reported two-week period which Shreve, Lamb & Harmon pumped out building drawings for Empire State.
25 March 2005
Of course, the design gurus at the The Cincinnati Enquirer are in support of the Libeskind tower: Bold design of proposed tower would soar as regional landmark.
March 21, 2005
The scoop on the Chinese iPod Shuffle Rip-off
it was a PR stunt
Designing Packaging: My Varlomos Calzone Box
check out the before and after photoshop of a clazone (you must use that power for good...)
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(flickr joke)
Four Event the President didn't rush back to DC for
All are way more consequential than Terri Schiavo
The Age of Missing Information - The Bush administration's campaign against openness
Tree of Grubbykid
Tree of Grubbykid, originally uploaded by plemeljr
A diagram of Grubbykid (the green tree) using the java-based Texone visualization. Unfortunately, the visualization doesn't have any method to view the tree by branch, or even to figure out which tree is yours. Cool web-stuff designers the world over, listen up: mouseovers are your friend! Plus, Java never (never!) seems to work for me over the web. Either way, this is a pretty lick looking diagram.
Ice Mountain Collapses
Looks like the man-made Ice Mountain we had linked to earlier has collapsed. At the highest, the mountain was 175'-0" tall and was made by spraying a mist of water. The designer (artist?) plans on trying to find the water nozzle in order to rebuild the mountain this year (if possible) and is planning for next year's mountain.
March 20, 2005
Terry Schiavo
Unless you have been living under a rock, the House of Representatives have been holding special sessions today - Palm Sunday - in order to attempt to override 10 Florida Judge's rulings; in order to override Terry Schiavo's legal guardian's rights; and finally to pander to the far Christian Conservative base which has found Terry Schiavo a perfect case to exploit for political gain.
The case is simple: 10 Florida State judges found in favor of Michael Schiavo, Terry Schiavo's legal guardian. His claim throughout is that Terry would not want to live in a persistent vegitative state - which every single doctor who has evaluated Terry has stated. So what is the House under Hastert and Delay trying to do? Honestly, it is nothing less than invalidating state judicial decisions purely because the end result does not fit the GOP's political aims. It does not matter one wit that if this bill passes, it will fundamentally change the interaction between state courts and the Congress.
If you don't believe me, here's Attorney Andrew Cohen with his opinion:
QUESTION: So the years of state-court litigation would be wiped off the map, as if it never took place?
ANSWER: If Congress gets its way, yes. That's why the legislators in Washington put the words "de novo" into the legislation, so that the federal courts would not be bound by anything the state courts in Florida had done. Terri Schiavo's parents still would have to convince the federal judge that her rights are being violated, and they would have to have the medical evidence to back that up (which they did not have in the state case), but the state case would not act as a mandated precedent in federal court.
QUESTION: What does that concept do the regular give and take between the court systems, the idea of comity and cooperation between judges?
ANSWER: It destroys it. But that's the whole point of this Congressional action. Not liking a particular result in a case that has been litigated fully and completely by a court with competent jurisdiction, Congress now has said that the game must be re-done with new rules that heavily favor one side over the other. The implications of this move are astonishing. Just think about it. Anytime Congress doesn't like the result in a particular case, it could swoop in and call a "do-over," which is essentially what this legislation represents. And this from a Congress that has for a decade or so tried to keep all sorts of citizens-- including disabled employees-- out of federal court. If this law is declared valid, no decision in any state court in the country will be immune from Congressional second-guessing. It would throw out of whack the entire concept of separation of powers. The constitutional law expert Tribe calls it "trial by legislation" and he is right.
QUESTION: You are getting agitated again. Doesn't the legislation specifically say that it does not "constitute a precedent with respect to future legislation, including the provision of private relief bills"?
ANSWER: Yes, it says that. But so what. It said that the last time Congress did this and it didn't stop Congress from doing this now. Look, there is no other way to put it: this is the most blatant and egregious power-grab by one branch over another in my lifetime. Congress is intruding so far into the power of the judiciary, on behalf of a single family, that it is breathtaking. It truly will be fascinating to see how federal court judges react to this-- whether they simply bow down to this end-run or whether they back up their state-court colleagues. And it will be interesting in particular to see what the Supreme Court does with this case. Even the conservatives on the High Court-- and the Chief Justice in particular-- must be concerned about ,the precedent this sort of legislation would set.
My questions to Republicans are: What part of Federalism don't you understand? What happened to the party of "small government?" What happened to "State's Rights?" What happened to believing and respecting the Constitution? If every major life and death decision deserves Federal review, why did the GOP write this proposed bill to affect onlyTerry Schiavo? If they really believed in the principle, the bill would not be written only for Schiavo.
As I watch the proceedings in the House tonight, I can't help but find irony in the situation (by Digby):
By now most people who read liberal blogs are aware that George W. Bush signed a law in Texas that expressly gave hospitals the right to remove life support if the patient could not pay and there was no hope of revival, regardless of the patient's family's wishes. It is called the Texas Futile Care Law. Under this law, a baby was removed from life support against his mother's wishes in Texas just this week. A 68 year old man was given a temporary reprieve by the Texas courts just yesterday.
Those of us who read liberal blogs are also aware that Republicans have voted en masse to pull the plug (no pun intended) on medicaid funding that pays for the kind of care that someone like Terry Schiavo and many others who are not so severely brain damaged need all across this country.
Those of us who read liberal blogs also understand that that the tort reform that is being contemplated by the Republican congress would preclude malpractice claims like that which has paid for Terry Schiavo's care thus far.
Those of us who read liberal blogs are aware that the bankruptcy bill will make it even more difficult for families who suffer a catastrophic illness like Terry Schivos because they will not be able to declare chapter 7 bankruptcy and get a fresh start when the gargantuan medical bills become overwhelming.
And those of us who read liberal blogs also know that this grandstanding by the congress is a purely political move designed to appease the religious right and that the legal maneuverings being employed would be anathema to any true small government conservative.
Those who don't read liberal blogs, on the other hand, are seeing a spectacle on television in which the news anchors repeatedly say that the congress is "stepping in to save Terry Schiavo" mimicking the unctuous words of Tom Delay as they grovel and leer at the family and nod sympathetically at the sanctimonious phonies who are using this issue for their political gain.
I'm so disgusted right now - the House Goop'ers are trying to equate Civil Rights in the 60's with this bill and voting rights for women with this bill. Have they no shame?
. For more check out Rivka on the medical facts and David Velleman on the moral problems.
March 19, 2005
Fare
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I'm not so hot about this image, but it is an interesting experiment with a very long lens (200mm) in low light.
March 18, 2005
Flip Board
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Arrival/Departure board on display at the MoMA - it even flips!
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The Earth does not take 24 hours to rotate
The Josh Kaufman "Personal MBA" Program
"you can educate yourself effectively for less than a quarter of the time and money spent in most current MBA programs"
ODEO Podcast service screenshots
in 18 months it will be "Podcast this, Podcast that" in every mainstream media market
Hug
hug, originally uploaded by nph
Micropatron
So I'm a Kottke Micropatron. I felt that rewarding good behavior and pure gumption was worth a small monetary gift. Not everyone likes Kottke, but you have to admire the guts it takes to quit your job to blog full time. I'll have more on this later, but for now I must work.
March 17, 2005
You Say Tomato: Of Fruit & Vegetables in New Jersey Politics
Pictures of Will Wright's (designer of SimCity) new game, Spore
daddy like...
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When the snooze bar is pressed, Clocky rolls off the table and finds a hiding spot
PodShanking: physical pod on pod copying
So hacky, but the quote is nice: "I bought this iPod to carry music, not enforce an Apple-branded morality to replace my own internal compass"
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music from the Cassette Tape Bubblegum Era
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photos of cassette tapes (I love wonderful obsessions on the interweb)
Digital Image Manipulation
Photo taken from the research paper (1.7MB .pdf)
Anyone who is interested in digital photo manipulation should read this paper from a Microsoft (yeah, I know) researcher entitled, Region Filling and Object Removal by Exemplar-Based Image Inpainting. (1.7MB .pdf) Here is the abstract:
Abstract - A new algorithm is proposed for removing large objects from digital images. The challenge is to fill in the hole that is left behind in a visually plausible way.
In the past, this problem has been addressed by two classes of algorithms: (i) "texture synthesis" algorithms for generating large image regions from sample textures, and (ii) "inpainting" techniques for filling in small image gaps. The former has been demonstrated for “textures” – repeating two-dimensional patterns with some stochasticity; the latter focus on linear "structures" which can be thought of as one-dimensional patterns, such as lines and object contours.
This paper presents a novel and efficient algorithm that combines the advantages of these two approaches. We first note that exemplar-based texture synthesis contains the essential process required to replicate both texture and structure; the success of structure propagation, however, is highly dependent on the order in which the filling proceeds. We propose a best-first algorithm in which the confidence in the synthesized pixel values is propagated in a manner similar to the propagation of information in inpainting. The actual colour values are computed using exemplar-based synthesis.
(emphasis original)
As you can see from the photo above, the algorithms does a pretty good job of removing the object and filling in the background. Now, I don't want to get all alarmist, but does anyone think that this process can be used for both good and bad? The image (sorry for the pun) that comes into my head is from that mediocre Schwarzenegger movie The Running Man. Set in the quasi-future where people compete in to-the-death reality television and are digitally edited out of film and images when convenient, and broadcast to the world as fact, is somewhat troubling to me.
I'm interested in what sort of research into digital watermarking images in order to ensure the image has not been altered has occurred and how it is progressing. I seem to remember some digital camera manufacturers announcing products which would watermark and produce a hash for each image based on pixel location and RGB type - for use in law enforcement (but I don't have the link handy). Additionally, I wonder when some sort of reasonably secure method of verifying image integrity will enter the market. I would suspect the market niche is small, primarily law enforcement, but I could see a general research science application in order to verify image integrity.
March 16, 2005
Grille
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At the MoMA, there is a cherry red Aston Martin... I think. I'm not much of a car fanatic, but this car was unbelievably amazing.
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a site about gluing
Many of the Ten Commandments monuments found across America were movie promotions
hmmm... the following quote is awesome: "The stars of the movie, Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner and Martha Scott, attended many of the dedications."
Why Architects Give Me the Willies
spot on analysis or extrapolating few to the many?
March 15, 2005
MoMA Queue
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The queue for the MoMA is horrendous. Good thing Herself bought me a membership for my birthday.
Federal Government to restrict and add DRM to public documents
The Once and Future Federal Depository Library Program
You like me (I think)
Warning, navel gazing and pleading ahead. Ahh, hemmm... Well, how to put this. There are these things call the Photobloggies which are a sort of awards. Now, I know I'm alright and don't need any exterior validation. But... sorry, but it would be nice if people, oh say, nominated photos.grubbykid for something. Say, Best Landscape Photography of a Photoblog or Best Street Photography of a Photoblog or Best New Photoblog or even Best Kept Secret Photoblog. I'm not shy, I would just want to get nominated - that in itself would be nice.
Now, why would you go and waste your time nominating this photoblog? Well, because... that's why. If you want a more concrete reason for nominating this photoblog, well, here are some clues (click on the thumbnail for larger image):
Death Valley Blossoms
more yellow and drops, originally uploaded by Judy Mosby © all rights reserved (used under fair use)
All of that rain which dumped huge amounts of water on the West Coast which created all of those mudslides has had an unintended consequence: Death Valley is blossoming (nytimes - get it before the firewall drops) (here's a pdf of the article).
Man, I wish I was out west again. Check out this awesome photo gallery by Judy Mosby.
March 14, 2005
Nomadic Museum
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Shigeru Ban’s temporary museum at Pier 54 houses the Ashes & Snow exhibition by Gregory Colbert. Expect to see this photo often.
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the suburb is not the only place to raise a family
Moxie Blog - Documenting the building of a small independent movie theater
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$50... daddy like
Central Park, 1958
274, originally uploaded by Sherlock77
A great old photo uploaded by sherlock77 from Central Park in 1958. For other great old photos, check out the Old Photo Group on Flickr. Compare with a recent photo I took this year and not much has changed except the addition of handrails next to the lake:
The Gates, originally uploaded by plemeljr
March 13, 2005
AOL Eavesdrops, Grants Itself Permission To Steal Your AIM Conversations
Bad AOL... go to your room
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CherryOS stole code from open-source emulator software project PearPC
March 11, 2005
March 10, 2005
Busted Washers
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Just some busted old washers hanging outside on the streets of Brooklyn .
Smitty's
Smitty's, originally uploaded by Ryan Thomas
Ahhh... the memories of the fluorescent goodness which is Smitty's.
March 9, 2005
Shelter Animals
curiosity, originally uploaded by kreet
There is a wonderful set on Flickr by kreet showcasing Shelter Animals where she volunteers. As Bob Barker would say, "Have your pet spaid or neutered."
March 8, 2005
March 4, 2005
Bill O'Reilly calls ACLU "...a terrorist group"
OK Bill time to go away now
Video: Bright Coop Inc Chicken Harvester
better living through chemistry
March 2, 2005
March 1, 2005
Finally! For MT users sanity has come: Kill 'nav-commenters.gif'
The Senate and the "nuclear option"
GOP ready to end the Filibuster in order to take over the Senate




