January 2009
29 posts
What Red Ink? Wall Street Paid Hefty Bonuses →
Time for the outrage.
“That which is past is past forever and no power of the imagination
can bring it...”
– William Carlos Williams, Kora in Hell: Improvisations
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A great name:
Crispus Attucks, he was a sailor and one of three men killed during the Boston Massacre in 1770. I’ve never heard a name like that, but it conjures all sorts of wonderful things.
Live Free or Drown: Floating Utopias on the Cheap →
At 11 am, attendees break up into small groups to brainstorm business models. Seasteaders can depend on like-minded benefactors for only so long. Ultimately, these nations will need to pay the bills. Friedman notes that some enterprises—like euthanasia clinics—would incense local authorities, but almost all the ideas attendees come up with would capitalize on activities that skirt existing laws...
Would you still... →
Probably not.
Eulogizing someone on Facebook
Please, when I die, do not create a Facebook group where ”friends” can attempt to eulogize me.
One of my buddies from junior high committed suicide this past weekend and within a day someone created a Facebook group with information about the memorial and a request that friends post pictures and wall comments for the family.
Out of respect I won’t post screenshots, but let me...
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the economist on bush: the frat boy ships out →
“Lack of curiosity also led Mr Bush to suspect intellectuals in general and academic experts in particular. David Frum, who wrote speeches for Mr Bush during his first term, noted that “conspicuous intelligence seemed actively unwelcome in the Bush White House”. The Bush cabinet was “solid and reliable”, but contained no “really high-powered brains”. Karen Hughes, one of his closest...
“Things are moving so fast in race relations a Negro could be president in 40...”
– Robert F. Kennedy, 1968 (via davidkaneda)
Off to D.C.!
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Banks conveniently forget key part of being bank →
A close look at Independent Bank’s handling of its government money demonstrates just how much harder this has turned out to be, and the conflicting challenges that banks across the United States are confronting in the new bailout era. Like hundreds of other banks, it is caught between the government’s push to increase lending and its own caution.
So let me get this straight: In the years leading...
“You see, even before the current financial crisis, we were already in a deep...”
– Thomas L. Friedman: Tax Cuts for Teachers (via marco)
“I’d like to thank all my dogs, the ones that are here, the ones that aren’t here...”
– Mickey Rourke (via inothernews : frangry)
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Robots, Not Roads →
Paving roads, repairing bridges that need refurbishing, and accelerating existing projects are all good and necessary, but not transformative. These projects by and large are building or patching the same economy with the same flaws that got us where we are. Our concern should be that as we look for the next great infrastructure project to transform our economy, we might rebuild the Erie Canal...
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Cory Doctorow: Writing in the Age of Distraction →
Sage advice for the modern writer.
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zealous salad building syndrome
I’m coming to terms with the fact that I have a condition best described as a Zealous Salad Building Syndrome. My problem, as it has been pointed out by many of my lunching companions, is that I am unable to take reasonable portions of ingredients. This is compounded by my compulsion to include as many ingredients as possible. I do this with the best of intentions (they’re just...
Love theory
magicmolly:
If you have a good relationship with your parents, you grow up with the idea that love is very simple. There is one place to direct it and you do it automatically— too needily to be aware of it— the way you speak English or breathe without consciously loving either one of these activities.
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resolution:
Do more of some stuff
Do less of other stuff