December 2009
22 posts
“In the meantime, the current state-of-the-science message about exercise and...”
– Gretchen Reynolds, “The Best Exercises for Healthy Bones,” in the NY TImes.
The image of a bunch of 20/30/40-something NYTimes readers suddenly adopting a “jumping regimen” like a bunch of fancypants-wearing eight-year-olds makes me laugh. And yet perhaps I will be...
“Can a state be kicked out of the union? I am thinking, of course, of Texas.”
– A Slate reader’s question from The Explainer Questions We Never Answered in 2009.
Sorry to all my relatives in the Lone Star state, but that’s a funny one. From all evidence I’ve heard, Houston is a pit. But we’d probably let Austin be the Berlin of Texas, and represent...
Kottke: The Future is Amish →
A quote on kottke.org from Kevin Kelly: “I’m interested in how people personally decide to refuse a technology. I’m interested in that process, because I think that will happen more and more as the number of technologies keep increasing.”
3 tags
“Good for you son! It’s always good to see young people taking an interest in...”
– Captain Lance Murdoch to Bart Simpson
A timely repost from an earlier era of dotrob.tumblr.org.
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“At least Richard Nixon had the ill fortune to look like what he was: a haunted...”
– Christopher Hitchens, Sarah Palin’s brand of populism is dangerous and deceptive in Slate Magazine.
Oh Hitch, how I have grown to appreciate and enjoy your highbrow curmudgeonliness.
2 tags
“[Mara] Liasson is deliberately disingenuous; she simply wants it both ways, but...”
– Comment by user theod on the TPM article Report: NPR Reporter Pressured Over Fox News Appearances. I pretty much agree, although the term “blackface” is a bit harsh. Other commenters mention how the tone of her voice changes when she reports on certain topics — such as failures of...
“Baby, darling, doll face, honey
No I don’t mean to cause you worry...”
– “Fires” lyrics by Band of Skulls.
1 tag
“I realized that my favorite books about marriage — Calvin Trillin’s About Alice...”
– Elizabeth Weil in the article Married (Happily) With Issues for the NY Times Magazine.
Maybe out of context this quote isn’t so fun as it seemed when I encountered it on page three of this article. But damn, it was funny. Recommended.
WALK TO KITCHEN, PUT A DISH IN THE SINK, WALK BACK... →
Today’s Achewood is tops.
David Foster Wallace grammar challenge →
I took this quiz and got 7 of 10 correct. I almost got another one correct — I had the right answer but then changed it.
Interestingly, the ones I got correct were fairly straightforward for me, while the ones I missed seem particularly subtle to me.
This result suggests that I’ve learned 7 of the rules presented, but not the other three (or haven’t learned them formally or...
“So I thought about it, and we definitely want to switch the font back to Comic...”
– “The Client” in How a Web Design Goes Straight to Hell on The Oatmeal.
Daily Measurements
Some distances I counted today. In each case, one step = the distance between each step of my good leg.
25 steps from the coffee counter in Smith Hall to the door of Smith hall
10 steps to cross Broadway at the crosswalk
33 steps from the crosswalk to the front door of the Education building
10 steps from the Ed. building door to the elevator
36 steps from the elevator to my office door
I...
1 tag
“Most authorities now instruct writers to capitalize whatever the corporations...”
– Caleb Crain, in On Language - “Against Camel Case” for the NYTimes.
Having programmed, I have a preference for using underscores in place of spaces, instead of using camel case, like_this. Besides the humps, the name “camel case” suggests to me the spitting and...
“To avoid a potential terrorist attack we are willing to invade countries and...”
– A reader at Andrew Sullivan’s blog, in “Land Of The Afraid”. An insightful and piquant observation on the whole “post-9/11” world of the GWOT. Well worth 5 minutes of your time.
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“The DVD box set is the newest and most terrifying form of ritualistic abuse we...”
– Grady Hendrix - “Don’t give DVD box sets as gifts” on Slate.
I actually like DVD sets a lot, and watch much of my TV that way these days (Hulu is the other method). I can pick what I want based on reviews and other feedback over time and then control the rate at which I watch...
