I invested in a tea glass and some Black Mango tea today.
Some Female Olympians May Undergo Sex Tests : NPR -
At the Beijing Olympics, some female athletes may undergo sex testing. Doriane Lambelet Coleman, a professor of law at Duke University and a former athlete, says sex testing began following suspicion that some female athletes either took anabolic androgenic steroids or were, in fact, men.
Al Gore Places Infant Son In Rocket To Escape Dying Planet - (via sujay)
“U.S. interrogators rarely if ever encounter a “ticking time bomb,” someone with detailed information about an imminent terror plot. But according to the advocacy group the Parents Television Council (which has declared war on “24”), [Jack] Bauer encounters a ticking time bomb an average of 12 times every season. Given that each season represents a 24-hour period, Bauer encounters someone who needs torturing 12 times per day. Experienced interrogators know that information extracted through torture is rarely reliable. But Jack Bauer’s torture not only elicits the truth, it does so before the commercial. He is a human polygraph who has a way with flesh-eating chemicals.” — How Jack Bauer Shaped U.S. Torture Policy | Dahlia Lithwick | Newsweek.com
“Though the tariff system is smaller than other taxes, it is far more regressive. This is because poor people spend a greater share of their income on clothes and shoes than do wealthy or middle-class people. The cheap and simple goods made in poor countries and bought by low-income Americans are subject to far higher tariffs than luxury goods. An acrylic sweater attracts a 32 percent tariff while a cashmere sweater gets only 4 percent; a polyester bra is tagged with a 17 percent tariff, while one made of silk gets less than three percent; and a cheap stainless steel fork is hit with a 19 percent tariff, while a silver-plated spoon has none at all.” — Foreign Affairs - Taxing the Poor - Edward Gresser
[video]
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Teaser Trailer -
(via sujay)
Yay!
Just accidently broke the stem on one of my bike tires. There goes $11. I feel like such a dope.
I cancelled my Newsweek magazine subscription today. It felt a bit odd, as Newsweek has been coming to my door every week for over a decade now. It’s been a part of my routine and it’s always hard to change your routine.
When I called up Newsweek to cancel, the woman on the phone wanted to know why I was canceling.
“I’m going to subscribe to your Amazon Kindle version instead,” I said.
“Our Amazon…what…version?”
“Never mind, I just need to cancel my subscription. Thanks.”
I’ve been evaluating the Kindle version of Newsweek for a few days and am pretty impressed.
Pros
Cons
Pros You’d Think Would be Cons, But Are Great
With the print version of Newsweek, I read very few articles all the way through and even skip over many. There are so many distractions in the print version.
On any given two-page spread you have one to three stories, one to three photos, perhaps a quote-out or two, and an ad or two all vying for your attention. It’s even easy to let your eyes wander from one column of article text to another column of text without finishing your current paragraph.
I find that just looking at one story at a time, one column at a time, is a great way to actually focus on what I’m reading. And, if I really want to see the visuals for a story, I can always visit Newsweek.com on the Kindle or with a web browser on a computer or phone to get at least some of them.
If Newsweek ever does add visuals to the Kindle version, I hope they limit them to on photo or illustration at the start of each story.
Cost is a Toss-Up
Overall, I’m pretty excited about the Newsweek version for Kindle and hope the remaining bits of print content are added soon. I’m so impressed with the magazine reading experience on the Kindle that I’m getting Atlantic Monthly on it too and am hoping that Foreign Affairs will come to the Kindle in the future.
I invested in a tea glass and some Black Mango tea today.
NetNewsWire 1.0.7 for iPhone Available - A HUGE improvement. (via Daring Fireball who is on a roll with great links today)
Dan Lyons on Steve's "Ambush Call" -
Well, so much for people who though Dan Lyons had retired Fake Steve Jobs in order to ingratiate himself with Apple! Damn!
I actually think Lyons is overreacting here. I think what Steve is trying to do is get the word out that his cancer isn’t back without setting a precedent that he will publicly respond to health questions in the future. The off-the-record call is a hedge that protects the stock while also protecting Steve’s future privacy and flexibility.
Now, thanks to that call, we all know that Steve doesn’t have cancer. But, when journalists and analysts ask about Steve’s health in the future, Apple can still say that “Steve’s health is a private matter.” Pretty slick move, I’d say.
(via Daring Fireball)
“On Sunday, we saw a large number of servers that were spending almost all of their time gossiping and a disproportionate amount of servers that had failed while gossiping. With a large number of servers gossiping and failing while gossiping, Amazon S3 wasn’t able to successfully process many customer requests.” —
Amazon explaining S3’s July 20th “Availability Event”
While I do understand what the term “gossiping” means in this case, my whimsical side can’t help wondering if Britney or the new Brangelina baby is responsible for bringing down Amazon S3.
(via Daring Fireball)
After a weekend of vacation-forced brainfreeze and dealing with immense family drama, it’s incredibly nice to get back to my life of being surrounded by intelligent people doing great things and always challenging me to become a better person.
In the “real world” outside of my closest friends, I don’t fit in at all — in far too many ways to list right now when I should be going to sleep. I do a decent job of faking it when necessary, but I really don’t understand most people, and they really don’t understand me. I feel like I’m an outsider. An observer. I’m always completely puzzled (and often saddened) about why people are the way they are and why they do the things they do. The real America, away from young people living in trendy coastal cities, is a place where I absolutely don’t fit in at all — and I marvel that anyone actually does.
I’ve only ever found a handful of people through typical real-world situations who I can really associate with. But the internet is an incredibly efficient matchmaker. The same power that enables odd fetish groups to exist also enables me to find other people remarkably similar to me. I always thought I was the only one, and I was somehow incredibly weird (in a bad way) for that. But there are plenty of people like me out there. I follow 226 of them on Tumblr alone. And when I meet them in real life, I’m blown away by how easily we connect — especially compared to how poorly I usually connect with strangers. I feel like we’ve been friends for years, even for people whose tumblelogs I’ve only been following for a few months and who I’ve only met in person for a few minutes.
The internet shows me that my thoughts aren’t that strange after all. And that’s a great thing: I find acceptance, and I’m challenged to define, refine, and defend what were previously only vague notions. I’m not just some lone weirdo thinking these odd things about the world. I can’t look around and think “nobody gets it” because I know that all of you do.
Intellectually, it’s even better. I’m attacked, defied, outclassed, and proven wrong regularly — and every time, I become a better person.
If such a thing exists, I certainly have an internet addiction. And I don’t care. I have absolutely no desire to be a “normal” member of society, doing whatever normal people do with their time (go upstate and drive boats in circles, then come inside to watch “the game” and grunt occasionally?). I’m very happy here, doing what I’m doing, and being a part of something so amazing, challenging, and stimulating.
Well said! (That must have been a really rough vacation!)
Took Francisca’s mother to Charlottesville today and dropped by TJ’s house. It was a lovely trip.