Seriously, who needs this? Being fat is bad for your brain. The New York Times blogger Olivia Judson runs down a ton of scientific evidence documenting the ways that being obese in middle age raises the likelihood of dementia in old age.
People are disconcertingly accepting of torture as a means of getting information from people we detain, and it seems to me that assassinations are even more popular than torture. You just don’t see many people protesting the United States blowing up suspected terrorists in countries like Yemen with missiles fired from Predator drones. It’s sad, because there are many principled objections to be made to the use of assassination as a tactic for fighting terror. A recent study makes it clear that there are practical objections as well – a 2009 study suggests that assassinations are counterproductive: ...
Marco Arment discusses the rumored 960x640 display in the forthcoming iPhone, and argues that the tradeoffs involved with including the display probably aren’t worth it. Here’s his conclusion: I’m sure I’ll fall in love with the high-density iPhone display as soon as I see it. But on paper, I’m still unconvinced that it’s necessary. If I had to pick one aspect of Apple’s strategy that has led to its great success over the past decade, it has been the company’s unwillingness to stop at what is necessary. It’s why I still love Apple’s products, even though the company irritates me a lot of the time. ...
Kids who grow up near books do better in school than kids who don’t, on average.
Some links to things mentioned in episode 2 of Treme: Coco Robicheaux Voodoo stuff: loa and Marie Laveau St. Gabriel, Louisiana Calliope projects Preservation Hall on St. Peter is closed on the show – it didn’t reopen until April, 2006 Steen’s Syrup Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. In 1927, the levees were dynamited upriver from New Orleans to save the city. Allen Toussaint “When the Saints Go Marching In”
There is no application nearer and dearer to my heart than MySQL. I’ve build applications on a lot of different platforms over the years, but pretty much all of them have used MySQL as the data store. That said, i don’t usually pay attention to what’s going on in the MySQL community. I use whatever version of MySQL is packaged for the server I’m using and make the best of it. ...
Twitter has launched a new feature for third party Web sites, @Anywhere, automatically converts Twitter usernames to links with a hover effect that provides information about their Twitter account. I’ve added it to the blog. Here’s an example: @rc3dotorg. If you’re a Twitter user, feel free to use your Twitter username (with the @) in the Name field in the comment form. Then people will see a link to your Twitter page. ...
This weekend the Apache Software Foundation suffered a security breach. The post-mortem from the Apache Infrastructure Team is worth reading, because the attack was vsophisticated and they explain exactly how it worked. Nelson Minar blames problems with passwords for the Apache security breach this weekend. Paul Querna blames Internet security as a whole. I’m still waiting for someone to blame URL shorteners, as they played a role in the attack as well.
Today, Apple updated the MacBook Pro line. I’ve been using the same laptop for three years, and it is, in my opinion, time to get a new one. Sadly, my determination to get a new laptop has made every symptom of sluggishness on the old computer twice as noticeable. (Eclipse “Open Type” shortcut, I’m looking at you.) First, an anecdote from the realm of behavioral economics. In January, a five cent tax on plastic grocery bags went into effect in Washington DC. The proceeds go to cleaning up the Anacostia River. Residents of Washington DC used an average of 22 million plastic bags a month in 2009. In 2010, they used 3 million. As it turns out, people are completely willing to bring their own bags to the store if it means not having to pay a small tax. The radical change in behavior that resulted from this small tax made me wonder about the effect slow computers have on developer behavior. ...
Here are some essential links for people who watched episode 1 of Treme: Mardi Gras Indians Second line parades Jazz funeral Hubigs Pies (I’ve had them, they’re very good for a mass produced fried pie) The much-mentioned OPP is a reference to the Orleans Parish Prison Kermit Ruffins Donald Harrison (the sax player in the New York bar) Lionel Batiste Update: I forgot to note Brocato’s ice cream parlor.