Threading through the Tangle

The most hyperbolic NYT piece ever

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 03:24:49 -0500

After all, nothing is more demoralizing and damaging to a nation than being beaten at your national sport. Even having been dragged into an 8 year long war, where your country men are losing life and limb, with no end in sight, pales by comparison!

For Canada, anything other than victory after Sunday’s humiliating 5-3 defeat by the United States would have been a catastrophe that scarred the nation’s psyche.

Thank you NYT, for your startling clarity and insight. Your vivid description of what is vital to the collective Canadian subconscious.

Here is an awesome series of photographs for the Boston.com. ...

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 10:42:00 -0500

Here is an awesome series of photographs for the Boston.com. Incredible photographs of two pretty crazy festivals.

Fiery European Festivals - The Big Picture - Boston.com

Bunch Of Phonies Mourn J.D. Salinger | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:54:24 -0500

Bunch Of Phonies Mourn J.D. Salinger | The Onion - America's Finest News Source:

Now this, is fucking brilliant.

Evidence of a Tech President

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:42:47 -0500

A Deluge of Donations via Text Messages - NYTimes.com

GreatBritain.A2010007.1150.1km.jpg

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 11:49:31 -0500

GreatBritain.A2010007.1150.1km.jpg

2006 GameSpot ‘April Fools’ joke correctly predicts everything we now know about gaming in 2010 - Joseph Hayden - Pushing Buttons - True/Slant

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 23:36:10 -0500

2006 GameSpot ‘April Fools’ joke correctly predicts everything we now know about gaming in 2010 - Joseph Hayden - Pushing Buttons - True/Slant:

Oh Game Journalism. The idiot cousin of the already moronic mass media.

Fleshmap: Listen: Music

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 23:24:17 -0500

Fleshmap: Listen: Music:

Neat info graphic about body parts mentioned in genres of music.

Documents Show Officials Covered Up Deaths in Immigrant Deaths - NYTimes.com

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 00:19:45 -0500

Documents Show Officials Covered Up Deaths in Immigrant Deaths - NYTimes.com

Off With Her Head, unless you'd actually like to use it for thinking.

Sat, 09 Jan 2010 14:24:00 -0500

I quite enjoy reading Andrew Sullivan, and i am strongly sympathetic to his perspective, given that he is clearly an American at this point, but with a very British sense of justice. In that frame of mind he’s been calling for Janet Napolitano to resign, in the face of the US Gov’s failure to stop the Christmas Day Crotch Bomber. But i think that Sullivan’s British sense of justice is getting the better of his good sense about American political dynamics.

I agree in principle that people should be held accountable if they have failed at their job. I too was braying for Alberto Gonzales’s blood along w/ everyone else. But there is an important distinction between the political mechanisms involved in Parliamentary systems of government in the UK and Canada, and the US and that is, the nomination and approval process of cabinet positions.

In Canada and the UK you can have a Defense Cabinet Minister, or Health Cabinet Minister resign, because the Prime Minister can just replace him or her with another member of Parliament (With the Queen’s or the Governor General’s rubber stamp). There is an ample pool of bodies ready and able to fill that cabinet slot. This is distinctly not a possibility in the US (particularly given the current political climate), where each Presidential nominee has to wait out Republican obstructionism in the Senate, even before being subjected the committee process, and then running the gauntlet of the full senate.

In the end it’s true, you could have Janet Napolitano resign on the principle of the matter, but which would you prefer: Secretary Napolitano, now? or a headless DHS for the next 6-12 months?

Cardiovascular Curveball #001 | Life in the Fast Lane

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:56:04 -0500

Cardiovascular Curveball #001 | Life in the Fast Lane:

An amazing blog post/case that shadowfax linked to :D

My Comment on "The Dark Side Of The Web"

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:22:11 -0400

My Comment on "The Dark Side Of The Web":

Nice, Andrew Sullivan published a comment I sent him in full (Thanks Andrew!).

Here’s the comment:

You have quite clearly mischaracterized Morozo’s argument. Morozo’s point is that technology does not INHERENTLY lead to democracy. It may well be that technology helps enabled people with reformist and democratic ideals to organize and communicate. That is not the same thing as what many people presume, that technology will free people.

Morozo’s presentation actually missed the most devastating argument available to him, which is the juncture of two of his other arguments. Repressive regimes may have a favored lever of control, but they certainly have no compunction about using any and every tool available to them. The most devious thing that a regime like china can do is to *both* cultivate blog networks and subcultures which agree with the regime, *and* use the networking property of the internet to identify and shut down networks which are critical.

In doing so, they can claim that there is a legitimate and independent community which they had no hand in creating (literally true), and the predominance of those voices will eventually develop a self-sustaining critical mass, if they are the only voice available to hear. This is about incubating your own virulent crazies by protecting them from counter-arguments.

This is a modus operandi that should look familiar. It’s about controlling the means of distribution, and you can still do it in the age of the internet.

In fact, that is exactly what the USA is trying to do to combat Islamic extremism. They are trying to identify and target extremist networks online, and, in the middle east, prop up and promote organizations and politicians who purport to have ideals concordant with our own.

Technology is just a tool. We, the users, provide its values. There are many aphorisms that are appropriate to this situation. First, that the strongest cage is the one which you build for yourself. Second that Technology may change the terrain upon which we do battle, but the real war is waged within the hearts and minds of men.

In retrospect reading the comment makes me realize two things. The first is that I need an editor (heh). Also that I left out a deeper discussion for the sake of brevity, which i think i will expound upon further.

Weekend Competition: Tom Swifties - Schott’s Vocab Blog - NYTimes.com

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 11:16:09 -0400

Weekend Competition: Tom Swifties - Schott’s Vocab Blog - NYTimes.com:

These are a hilarious sort of pun. And the commentors on the NYT blog have produced some real gems:

“Oh I dropped my toothpaste behind the sink,” he said, crestfallen.

Misleadingly Naive Article in Psychology Today: If you accept evolution, you must oppose over-regulation of the economy | Psychology Today Blogs

Sun, 31 May 2009 20:56:04 -0400

Misleadingly Naive Article in Psychology Today: If you accept evolution, you must oppose over-regulation of the economy | Psychology Today Blogs:

This piece is so fundamentally naive that it’s really not worth considering. The author clearly does not understand evolution, or the nature in which humans participate in evolutionary, or economic systems (i know, the author is in neuroeconomics. I’m surprised too).

First, humans manipulate evolutionary systems for our benefit. Livestock and plant husbandry have served us well over several thousand years, and are really quite integral to individual survival and our survival as a species. Additionally there are a number of animals which have co-evolved with us, and have influenced and been influenced by our evolutionary trajectory (dogs, cats, mosquitoes, etc).

Second, economic systems are not like evolutionary systems, in that we have goals and objectives that our economic systems are supposed to meet. Survival of the fittest business is inappropriate if the fittest do it by turning people into soylent green.

Third, the premise that regulation can only stifle fitness in an economic system is simply and grossly incorrect. If you wish to preserve diversity in an economy then you want regulations that break up monopolies. You want regulations that tell telecom companies that they must lease their phone lines to competitors.

Fourth, there are cases where we simply must demand for the bar for economic fitness to be raised. It is in our collective best interest to ensure that banks are properly capitalized and are able to pay their debts. In fact, it’s of vital interest to the entire economic system, as the past year has demonstrated.

This article is frustrating/misleading/incorrect, and frankly i expected better, both out of a neuroeconomist, and a magazine called Psychology Today.

Tired of (rubyists) arguing? Do something about it.

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 04:54:00 -0400

Frustrated; Demoralized; Tired of arguing

I am described by all of these things. A lot of interesting things have been said over the past two weeks. A lot of horrible things have been said too. There is no community consensus. Instead we have what political pundits refer to as a “circular firing squad.” Its not even that the community is divided into separate camps, we can’t even agree on what the terms of the debate are. At this point, no forward progress is being made.

There is more, much more, to be said about gender and the tech world. I personally have things to say about the subject. But right now, there’s not a lot of listening going on. Everyone doing the talking has dug in, and are now just slinging recriminations.

Nick Sieger suggests that we should stand up and speak when we see objectionable behavior. He is absolutely right. We should talk with our friends and colleagues, and make clear what we think. But, we shouldn’t stop there. We can and should do one better. We should do what agile, DYI flash mobs do best. Let’s channel our efforts into making the world a better place.

Go out and help someone. If you think it’s important to recruit women in the Ruby world, do it. It’s good that we’re expressing our opinions, but it’s more important to make the world a better place, not just wish that it were.

Personally, i’ve offered to teach about Sphinx and full text searching.

What are you going to do?

AAEC - Political Cartoon by Matt Bors, United Media - 04/08/2009

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:57:17 -0400

AAEC - Political Cartoon by Matt Bors, United Media - 04/08/2009

Technology Review Videos: Fixing Lungs Outside the Body

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 14:12:35 -0400

Technology Review Videos: Fixing Lungs Outside the Body:

Totally awesome, and totally freaky. Lungs kept alive for like 12 hrs outside of the human body (massive benefit for lung transplants and the like)

Twitter Riots by David Donar, Donklephant.com - 04/11/2009 A...

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 22:29:53 -0400

Twitter Riots by David Donar, Donklephant.com - 04/11/2009 A cool if conceptual editorial cartoon

AAEC - Political Cartoon by Randy Bish, Pittsburgh...

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 22:09:31 -0400

AAEC - Political Cartoon by Randy Bish, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - 04/13/2009

In New Jersey, an Immigrant Detainee Dies, and Then Vanishes From the Records - NYTimes.com

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 03:03:00 -0400

In New Jersey, an Immigrant Detainee Dies, and Then Vanishes From the Records - NYTimes.com:

I can’t find enough pejoratives to describe the ways in which the Bush administration has reinvented the executive branch. They created a shameful, callous, uncaring, soul-eating machine, built to serve their ideology. A device with no regard for the lives it destroyed, any notion of justice, or question of efficacy. Every time i think that i’ve become inured to the rank and unfettered injustice perpetrated by the Bush Administration, some new low comes to my attention and it is sad that this information has only come to light now, after the Bush administration has left office.

The behavior of Immigration & Customs Enforcement as described by the NYT is a damning example.

They have made me ashamed to be an American. How sad is it that 26 year olds have begun lamenting the loss of nation we used to be?

Here’s a link to an earlier NYT article regarding a Chinese man who was detained, developed cancer and a fractured spine, and was denied treatment because officials thought he was “faking” until 5 days before his death, when he was taken to a hospital, “his spine fractured and his body riddled with cancer that had gone undiagnosed and untreated for months.”

Fatal Distraction: Forgetting a Child in the Backseat of a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime? Gene Weingarten Reports. - washingtonpost.com

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 02:54:03 -0400

Fatal Distraction: Forgetting a Child in the Backseat of a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake. Is It a Crime? Gene Weingarten Reports. - washingtonpost.com:

This Washington Post piece is extremely well put together. These are tragic stories, evocatively and heart-wrenchingly explained. More importantly though, the piece does an effective job of discussing the cognitive (even momentary distraction can have horrible implications) and sociological (this can happen to anybody from any background, and does happen).

WELL worth the read.