August 2011
35 posts
“Let’s say you were given a year to kill Hewlett-Packard. Here’s how you do it:”
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Al Lewis nails it.
“Yet when he pitched the idea to his management, executives at Capitol Records and prospective directors, Mr. Meloy said, “A lot of people were like, ‘I have no idea how you could possibly turn this into a music video.’ ”
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‘Infinite Jest’ Imbues Decemberists Video by Michael Schur - NYTimes.com
By which they meant, “Who the fuck is David Foster Wallace?”
“Now, six months on from the initial uprisings of the Arab Spring (which, understandably enough, no one expected), we seem to have got all our predictions wrong yet again. But why should we have thought the Arab world might introduce democracy? Against every expectation, out of all the nations in revolt, from Tunisia to Yemen, no leaders, not even a petty Nasser, have arisen, anywhere. The only potential one to emerge, General Abdel Fattah Younes, was killed last month, in an own goal.”
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What did we expect from the Arab Spring? - Telegraph
What’s more appalling? Western arrogance that the Arab Spring would magically transform itself into a Pan-Arab democratic movement? Or Western ignorance that such a transformation were even possible given the history of the region and the facts on the ground?
“She wasn’t doing a thing that I could see, except standing there, leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together.”
—J.D. Salinger (via nevver)
“I sure don’t know what to do about an AA rating and if we should live beyond our means and about compromise and sacrifice. I have no idea. I’m scared to death of being in debt. I was a street juggler and carny trash — I couldn’t get my debt limit raised, I couldn’t even get a debt limit — my only choice was to live within my means. That’s all I understand from my experience, and that’s not much.”
—I don’t know, so I’m an atheist libertarian - CNN.com
Top 100 Science-Fiction, Fantasy Books : NPR →
npr.org
- Glad to see my pick “Hyperion” by Dan Simmons made the list at #51.
- The Princess Bride is a book??
- The Watchmen is a graphic novel. Doesn’t count.
- Universal is trying to get the screenwriter and director from Harry Potter to work on #25 The Stand.
- Song of Ice and Fire is already #5?? REALLY? UGH. I guess I have to read it and all its depressing nauseating glory.
Just finished the second Song of Ice and Fire, and boy does the author love him some deus ex machina (and leaving crucial plot points off the page).
Other bizarro moments in that NPR list:
- “American Gods” is as poorly written as “Neverwhere” - Gaiman’s better at plotting serials than novels.
- “Neuromancer” has not aged particularly well.
- Iain Banks’ Culture series deserves better than 83rd place, if only for the names of the Ships.
“The Y Combinator funded Contagion Health and Health Month have merged this week to form one big health data focused startup called Habit Labs. Contagion Health’s product, Imoveyou.com has shut down in the merger and instead founders Jen McCabe and Buster Benson will be focusing on their Health Month site and building out the still in stealth Habit AI.”
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Habit Labs Gets $250K To Turn Leading A Healthier Life Into A Game | TechCrunch
Very excited to be a part of this one. Buster is one of my best friends, and I love what they are working on now. It’s gonna be super fun to start budging people.
(via rickwebb)
Oh! This is great news. Congratulations to Buster and Jen!
“9:44 a.m.: A “gap up” means the market opens above the previous day’s close. If prices hold and the market trades above the open price, it’s called a “Gap and Go,” and the market rallies all day. Today is the opposite: A “Gap and Crap.” Within twelve minutes, computerized trading robots predict prices won’t hold and start selling the market down hard”
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The Yo-Yo Shift on Wall Street’s Wild Week: The Diary of an Anonymous Trader
Always fun to get inside the head of a trader, if only temporarily.
“Given [Perry’s] standing as a kind of amalgam of George W. Bush and Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee, he may soon occupy an unprecedented position in the imagination of liberals and the Left—perhaps the most frightening specter of anti-liberalism since Ronald Reagan precisely because he is electable. The conservative boogeyman is back.”
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Rick Perry Announces—and the Boogeyman Is Back « Commentary Magazine
The game is afoot (finally).
“You’ve been published by The Atlantic? That’s cool. My name is frequently used as a tag on Tumblr. We have all the makings of a modern power couple.”
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McSweeney’s Internet Tendency: List: Ineffective Pick-Up Lines for the Modern Internet Persona.
OH in SF. Over and over.
“Runners will navigate a series of 12 obstacles throughout a 5K course in an attempt to reach the finish line — all while avoiding zombies. At the end of this adventure race, you get to celebrate survival (or zombie transformation) with live entertainment and music, local celebrities, vendors, food, and of course, beer!”
—5K Obstacle Course Zombie Race - Run For Your Lives
