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July 2006
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February 2006
Atom 1.0Nat Torkington on RailsConf — Every report on this conference makes it sound amazing. I should have gone.
Supreme Court smacks down the administration on Hamdan — You can't just make up your own justice system for people you put in a special category.
China's firewall may violate US law — The forged packets it produces are a form of denial of service attack.
A lovely anecdote about an overheard phone conversation and Unix — If she was really being malicious, she would have included the f flag as well.
Frank Luntz has abandoned the "no consensus" argument regarding global warming — You know it really has entered the realm of ridiculousness if the master framer has abandoned it.
Warren Buffett on trust funds and welfare — Is there a wiser man in America?
Garret Vreeland reviews "An Inconvenient Truth" — "I kept thinking, during the movie … we could have had someone who was this articulate for President."
Apple's didn't invent the "mag-safe" connector — UL recommended such connectors for deep fryers back in 2001. Every iron should have such a connector, as well. (Via Digg)
Does hiring Jerome Armstrong as a political consultant buy the support of the Daily Kos? — It's just an allegation at this point, but Kos' request that other bloggers ignore the allegations is unseemly.
Letter from Michael "The Omnivore's Dilemna" Pollan to Whole Foods CEO John Mackey — A discussion of needed reforms and improvements in the consumer foods market. (via Rebecca Blood)
Why escolar is not a good substitute for Patagonian toothfish — It contains lots of Mother Nature's brand of Olestra.
Mythic cashes in — Good for them. World of Warcraft is a juggernaut and I always liked Dark Age of Camelot.
The historical background of today's Argentina-Netherlands World Cup match — The Dutch press, covering the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, broke the story of the "mothers of the disappeared."
NASCAR still doesn't use unleaded gasoline — Who knew?
File under: jobs I wish I was qualified for — Staff technologist for the EFF.
66 Senators favor enshrining idiocy in the Constitution — Anti-flag burning amendment is close to passage.
The Bush administration is utterly incompetent — Iran offered to negotiate on everything we wanted back in 2003 and we blew them off.
The ugly truth of how things are going in Iraq — A leaked report from the US embassy in Baghdad on how their Iraqi staff are doing.
The REST philosophy — 10 points to think about when designing REST web services.
Jacob Weisberg on what makes Slate "Slatey" — Slate is consistently one of my favorite Web sites, and it's interesting to read how it regards itself.
Joel Spolsky on his first meeting with Bill Gates — I think too many people (including myself) dismissed Bill Gates over the years because they resented Microsoft's power in the industry.
Bruce Schneier's choice for best movie-plot threat — Impressively conceived.
Andrew Leonard on Bill Gates' philanthropy — The evolution of Andrew's opinion of Bill Gates mirrors my own.
The perils of focus groups and market testing — After spending two years and boatloads of cash, Nolo press decides to put a picture of the same dog on the cover of all of their books. Yikes!
Why the future is in South Korea — Interesting thoughts from Tim O'Reilly.
Wikipedia article on football (soccer) formations — Essential reading for the soccer-ignorant World Cup watcher.
Joga.com World Cup Firefox extension — As a way to follow World Cup matches it's mediocre, but it's a signifier of Firefox's growing importance.
Fred Clark on the text version of the "Left Behind" game — You are in Manhattan. There is an infidel here.
Being enslaved by terrorists makes you ineligible to immigrate to the US — File this under unintentional consequences. Being kidnapped and enslaved constitutes "material support."
The problem with domainers — Domainers are companies that buy up domains and then just populate them with ads served by search engine companies.
The Bell Labs headquarters is slated to be demolished — Birthplace to much of the technology that defined the 20th century.
Ed Felten on net neutrality and the last mile — Why is it that all of the smart people who aren't reflexive libertarians are on the same side on this issue?
It's easier to concentrate when smoking dope than when dealing with email and IM — It's funny because it's true.
Not A Blog Anymore — I understand the sentiment. (via Dangerousmeta)
Best Daily Show interview ever — Jon Stewart and Jennifer Love Hewitt on the subject of the Garfield movie.
Leander Keahney on Apple's factory conditions — There's a little more to the story.
Where all your cool consumer electonics come from — Sweat-shops in China. Not a pretty read.
Billmon on whether or not the US is building permanent bases in Iraq — I have believed from the beginning that the number one reason for invading Iraq was to establish a permanent US military presence in the Middle East, away from Saudi Arabia.
O'Reilly's list of startup centers — The RTP area in North Carolina doesn't even make the list. I can't say that surprises me.
Tyler Cowen on net neutrality — The salient point: cable and telecom markets are already subject to strong government regulation.
Framing the "dead Zarqawi portrait" was weird — I'm glad to read that I wasn't the only person who thought so.
Simple television schedule for all World Cup matches — You can also find it here.
Why Apache's market share has fallen — GoDaddy moved 1.6 million parked domains from Apache to IIS.
Intelligence agencies are combing social networking sites — No court order or new legislation necessary.
Fred Clark's al-Zarqawi retrospective — I'm very glad the murdering SOB is dead, but let's not forget his history.
The Sartorialist — Recommended by Marginal Revolution. I am not fashionable and yet I care about fashion.
We aren't getting dumber — At least as far as SAT scores are concerned.
Google's CEO is asking customers to clamor for net neutrality — I'm for network neutrality, but not in order to help out Google.
Are you ready for some football? — A collection of essays on soccer in various nations participating in the world cup, from National Geographic.
India's cyclical infestation by giant rats — In the state of Mizoram, the once every 48 years flowering of a species of bamboo leads to a massive rat infestation.
The five second rule works (on tile or hardwood floors) — If you drop it, you can still eat it if you pick it up quickly enough. (via Digg)
The myth of self-reliance in the western United States — Other people's tax money -- you're soaking in it!
Further expansion of the surveillance society — The Justice Department wants ISPs to save records of the sites you've visited and who you've exchanged email with for two years.
Mark Blyth on why Hillary Clinton must run and lose in 2008 — Becoming 44th President is a job nobody wants. President Bush's successor is going to be left holding a really unpleasant bag.
The Fisher Space Pen was not a government boondoggle — It was developed by a businessman who sold it to the government.
Slashdot's new design is live — It's amazing how much better the site looks, and how much better it works. The only problem is how far down the comments start.
What "ubuntu" means — YouTube video of Nelson Mandela explaining the concept.
More on DHS terrorist threat assessment — The way the Internet enables people to collaborate to sift through information never ceases to amaze me.
New York has no national monuments or icons — I try not to assume people are just stupid, but sometimes it's difficult.
There's finally an official Universal build of Thunderbird — About time!
Roger Ebert reviews "An Inconvenient Truth" — Less a movie review and more a desperate plea for action.
BarCampRDU — July 22 at the Red Hat corporate headquarters. I will probably be there.
Duarte Design on developing Al Gore's global warming presentation — He uses Keynote.
Why read Clausewitz when Shock and Awe can make a clean sweep of things? — Review of Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq by Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor. (via Dangerousmeta)
The security reasoning behind "your purhase free if you don't get a receipt" — It prevents employee theft.
Herblock editorial cartoon on government wiretapping from 30 years ago — Not so funny is the legislation passed to prevent such abuses that was passed between then and now.
Scott Rosenberg on Al Gore's talk at the D conference — Go Al Gore, go.
How does one go from British civil servant to suicide bomber? — A key question for our times. (via 3qd)