February 2011
56 posts
“And yet, and yet … Denying temporal succession, denying the self, denying the...”
– Jorge Luis Borges
Borges - Quotations
(via camarguais)
January 2011
73 posts
Scott Adams on How to Tax the Rich - WSJ.com →
This is really interesting, and raises some valid points. My favorite line: “In business school I learned that when people have different preferences, you can usually find a way to engineer a deal.”
“I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent...”
– Robert Fulghum (All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten)
FS: Bailey Works 253 messenger bag →
Anybody in Portland interested in this deal?
I just realized that more than a few PDX hipsters look like Freddy Mercury.
“Peace begins with a smile..”
– Mother Teresa (via quote-book)
Ayn Rand took government handouts →
This is very interesting, and tugs at the perplexing notion of how it is that we humans can create mental maps that are so dissonant with the actual experience of living.
I suppose it’s no surprise that our mental maps can be wrong, but it is surprising that some of us so vociferously use these maps to defend the Ego’s position, which is that we are separate and superior to whatever...
“I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in...”
– Henry David Thoreau (Walden: Or, Life in the Woods)
Goodbye 1236, Or how it happened that I lost my... →
Reposting because the Tumblr to Facebook integration lacks a bit for mobile devices.
Hellhole [longform.org] →
“America now holds at least twenty-five thousand inmates in isolation in supermax prisons. An additional fifty to eighty thousand are kept in restrictive segregation units, many of them in isolation, too, although the government does not release these figures.”
(via Instapaper)
Overcoming Bias : Nutrition Labels →
Data starting to come in on the actual effect of nutrition labels on restaurant food. Big surprise! What people actually need is wisdom, self-control, and awareness of what their body does in response to their food choices, not more precise data or better labeling.
Overcoming Bias : How Good Are Laughs? →
This is flat-out fascinating.
4 tags
Goodbye 1236
I recently “lost” my house to foreclosure, and I wanted to jot down a few thoughts in response to the slow unfolding of this event.
In July 2005, I married my girlfriend at the time, Virginia. Shortly after that—in September 2005—we bought a house in Northeast Portland. I’ll refer to the house as 1236 but leave the rest of the street address out for privacy reasons....
“If the natural play of circuitry is depth and ever-increasing involvement and...”
– Marshall McLuhan Speaks - Centennial 2011
Urban Dictionary: riding the panther →
In about ten seconds flat, I went from being fine—you know, just doing my thing, working, making money, being OK with the way things are—to desperately wanting an oscilloscope and any other equipment necessary to measure EMF radiation. Ouch!
Was Christianity a Cover Story?
There’s a very seldom-mentioned but interesting thread of thought that goes like this: the texts that became the Christian new testament were largely written as a sort of cover story to remind the members of a secretive cult based on a combination of psychoactive mushroom use, fertility worship, and astrotheology of their definitive, shared mythology.
To really give this idea a fair shake,...
"2001" -- The Monolith and the Message ::... →
This is just excellent. A lovely description of some of the issues raised by Kubrick’s 2001, and the departure from linear thinking it takes to appreciate them.
I like my Linhof Twin Shank tripod
I thought it might be fun to sing the praises of this seemingly little-known tripod. The Linhof Twin Shank tripod is, for me, an excellent companion to my Sinar Norma 4x5 camera. It has a very favorable strength to weight ratio, and—because each leg uses only one lever lock—a very speedy setup time. The only downside is that when collapsed, the tripod doesn’t get very small: a...
Urban Dictionary: riding the panther →
A state I am all too familiar with…
The downward spiral of ownership and value « The... →
This is a really interesting post that argues a couple of points:
Ebook sales will do to the book publishing industry what digital music files did to the music industry
Both industries are being damaged by piracy, and the entelechy of this combination of factors is fewer people who will pay any money for music or (e)books.
I think the author is trying to prove an a priori belief using cherry...
Americans strongly favor military cuts (Times/CBS... →
mrgan:
seoulbrother on where the budget should be trimmed:
Here’s the thing: When they do make cuts in military spending, the government doesn’t make fewer missiles and bombs, they either freeze or cut pay and benefits for soldiers, sailors and their families. The soldier’s quality of life is unfairly held hostage by the defense budget as a whole.
A story I may have told before:
When I was...
The wrong kind of minimalism →
I haven’t figured out why yet, but the Steinberger guitar seems to really illustrate what happens when you take minimalism in the wrong direction.
A brave new world of fossil fuels on demand - The... →
Woah!!!
Tom Waits and Cold War Kids, I heartily concur with your use of the bicycle freewheel ticking sound in certain songs!
would like to know the etymology of “you can pound sand.” Anyone?
“I’m not dumb Lindsay. I know what high people look like. I went to a Seals...”
– Millie on Freaks and Geeks
http://mobile.theonion.com/articles/fuck-everything... →
Recently reminded of this jewel.
“Income inequality in the United States is higher than in any other advanced...”
– Why the Rich Are Getting Richer | Foreign Affairs
http://www.quora.com/What-life-lessons-are-unintuit... →
Loving this thread on Quora!