April 2011
March 2011
“Asking whether large solar power plants are appropriate in the Mojave desert is...”
– Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger lays out a case for putting solar farms in the Mojave as part of a policy based on improving public health, boosting the economy, and avoiding the risks of the fossil economy.
Read more at The Atlantic (via theatlantic)
“It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the...”
– Former MLB commissioner Bart Giamatti, “Green Fields of the Mind”.
(via langer)
Report: BP Managers May Face Manslaughter Over... →
theatlantic:
BP managers presiding over 2010’s devastating gulf oil spill may not be getting off as scot-free as the public once perceived.
According to a Bloomberg report citing anonymous sources, federal prosecutors are considering charging BP managers with involuntary manslaughter or seaman’s manslaughter charges (a “more serious penalty of up to 10 years”) for sacrificing safety for speed...
Tech Interviewing Tips From Me To You
pseudonym:
Confidential Information
I know how badly you want to show me the kick-ass project you worked on at your last gig, and I’d love to see it, but…
DO NOT BRING CONFIDENTIAL DIAGRAMS AND PAPERS WITH YOU, I WILL NOT LOOK AT THEM.
This is a huge red flag for me.
Seriously.
“Cloud Player is an application that lets customers manage and play their own...”
– Cat Griffin, Amazon, regarding the licensing needs of Amazon Cloud Player.
Oh, that cat, that bag. Very interesting to see this asserted by Amazon. MP3Tunes has tried to communicate this in an extended legal battle in the past couple of years, would be refreshing to see a new conversation (not...
“Take the example of Zynga in its early days with Facebook and MySpace. While the...”
– Index Ventures Blog – Benjamin Franklin and the Art of Business Development
“My main reaction to last night’s speech was a kind of bleak relief, a sort of...”
– Hendrik Hertzberg: Obama’s Libya Speech : The New Yorker (via peterwknox)
Agreed.
“The key to your happiness is to own your slippers, own who you are, own how you...”
– The all-time most highlighted passage by Amazon Kindle readers, as quoted by Abraham Verghese in his book, Cutting for Stone (via brit)
Watchbliptv:
blip on blip #51: This week, Annie sits down to chat with Jason Flowers, our Content Relations Associate. Each day, Jason is in charge of watching every single web show that comes across his lap.
The featured series this week is Laughing Historically. Hosts Brandon and Nevin cover all of the juicy history that was conveniently left out of your history books. Did you know that Edgar...
“Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., a member of the Democratic Senate leadership, got...”
– Schumer coordinates Dem budget attack on GOP | Susan Ferrechio | Beltway Confidential | Washington Examiner
This is just basic stuff. Bush league.
“We will have high-definition, wide-screen television sets and a push-button...”
– Roger Ebert Predicting The Future Of Film In 1987 | /Film (via popculturebrain)
Talmud Study now Mandatory in South Korea →
youngmanhattanite:
Close to 50 million people live in South Korea, and everyone learns Gemara (Talmud) in school. “We tried to understand why the Jews are geniuses, and we came to the conclusion that it is because they study Talmud,” said the Korean ambassador to Israel. And this is how “Rav Papa” became a more well known scholar in Korea than in Israel. What American Jewry can’t do for its...
“Or alternatively, it could just end up churning out more quants for Wall Street...”
– Stanford Wants To Open A Campus In New York
Ha. Ding! (via rickwebb)
Really excited that Stanford is going to open a campus in New York. This is excellent news for this city.
“Remember how the Republicans, when they took control of the House last fall,...”
– David Cay Johnston (via azspot)
“You know how I define the economic and social classes in this country? The upper...”
– George Carlin, Little Things We Share, 1992 (via absurdlakefront)
“… AMC wants to cut two minutes from each [Mad Men] episode, in favor of more...”
– Huffington Post
As much as I want “Mad Men” back, I’m with Matthew Weiner on this one. The show is too good to sully with product placement and budget cuts. AMC is really screwing themselves.
(via rachelinbrooklyn)
Yet another example of how television economics are endangered. The industry is...
In Which This American Life Misses an EXTREMELY...
markcoatney:
The other day, while listening to the very nice TAL episode “Original Recipe”, in which the show reveals the original recipe for Coca-Cola, Ira Glass notes that because Coca-Cola is made from coca leaves, a controlled substance in the U.S., all the leaves Coke uses are first shipped from South America to New Jersey, where the Stephan company removes the cocaine and ships the rest...
Amazon Cloud Drive: Learn More →
caterpillarcowboy:
mikehudack:
peterwknox:
5 GB of free online storage
Unlimited access from any computer
Never worry about losing your files again
Neat initiative.
Dropbox is significantly better. I don’t understand why they didn’t just buy them.
Amazon doesn’t have much of a history acquiring companies and integrating their tech into the main customer experience. Usually they...
sarahcooley asked: I need to come by and visit you guys. I feel like I haven't seen you in forever!
Amazon Cloud Drive: Learn More →
peterwknox:
5 GB of free online storage
Unlimited access from any computer
Never worry about losing your files again
Neat initiative.
Dropbox is significantly better. I don’t understand why they didn’t just buy them.
Not super impressed by Amazon Cloud Player so far
Five gig limit, no desktop access, and an unimpressive playback interface. So far I’m not blown away.
The "A" In Amazon Is For Asking For Forgiveness... →
parislemon:
More on Amazon’s ballsy bet to go ahead without full label support.
WSJ’s Ethan Smith:
One major music company, Sony Corp.’s Sony Music Entertainment, expressed dismay at Amazon’s plans, echoing concerns of others in the industry. “We are disappointed that the locker service that Amazon is proposing is unlicensed by Sony Music,” a spokeswoman said Tuesday evening.
An Amazon...
Why is US withholding old documents on covert ops... →
nickturse:
“[A]s CIA covert action roars back in places like Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Yemen, a detailed, public examination of such major past operations would provide both citizens and policymakers with needed perspective and caution,” Stephen Weissman trenchantly observes in a new piece in the Christian Science Monitor. So why he asks, are past covert ops being covered up by the State...
“We don’t cast spells. That’s not witchcraft. That’s black magic or voodoo or...”
– Former TSA worker Carole Smith, a Wiccan, denying allegations that she put a spell on a coworker’s car heater, causing it not to work. Smith was fired from the TSA. (via officialssay)
There’s got to be more to this. Right?
Why doesn't General Electric pay taxes? →
theweekmagazine:
The largest corporation in America paid precisely zero dollars in taxes to the government last year. Despite making $14.2 billion in profits, General Electric managed to exploit legal loopholes and tax breaks to avoid paying any corporate tax in the U.S., reports David Kocieniewski at The New York Times. In fact, GE was able to claim a tax benefit of $3.2 billion in 2010.
