December 2009
“Aviation security experts said that scanners designed to pick up explosives...”
– Al-Qaida links to Christmas Day plane bomb plot investigated | World news | The Guardian
But rest easy, holiday travelers, because your hair gels and half-finished Aquafina bottles are being safely kept out of airplane cabins with a perfectionist determination that can only be sustained by a...
See? Culture.
When standard-English speakers talk in the first person or third person, they use different pronouns to distinguish between singular and plural. In the first person, for example, speakers use the singular I and the plural we. But when speaking in the second person, you performs double duty as both the singular form and the plural form. Crozier (1984) suggests that during the 19th century, when...
A clock without hands? Eeesh. That does seem...
What I meant to say is I’m just not sure how long it’s going to be before I wave to you all on the Internet. I’m going to Texas for vacation and I’m leaving my big, dumb, stupid, attention-seeking laptop here in Pittsburgh where it can’t distract me from eating cookies and drinking eggnog and playing games and idly sitting around the living room late into each night...
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It sounds like you watch very little tv.
No question. I mean, that’s not a question. But I also mean you’re right. I don’t much like TV. I hear there are some terrific shows, and I admit I have a measure of Mad Men envy (Madmenvy?), but I made a priority decision a number of years ago that removed TV from the list of bills (monetary as well as temporal) I’m willing to pay, and that was that. So at some point...
Maybe you're more of a sleeper sofa type!!!
Now here’s a great deal on some furniture! This Broyhill sleeper sofa is in really, really good condition! It has kept its shape well, is comfortable to sit or sleep on, and has never had any pets or anything on it! A lot of sofas you see on Craigslist are a mess, but not this one! This one’s actually nice! Look and see for yourself! I posted some pictures to help you visualize it!!...
Sheesh, no! Goodness! I'm not trying to sell YOU...
How to make a camera obscura
If you want to build a camera obscura, you’re in practically non-existent company. Because nobody fucking builds them anymore. I also want to suggest that we knuckle under to our worst, most childish instincts any time we berate someone over the content of their honest expression instead of valuing them for the honesty itself. But that’s not because they’re particularly difficult to...
"Tell us why you believe your child is gifted."
samhey:
The kindergarten application stared up at me. I looked for inspiration to my son, who was nibbling on a lump of Play-doh. He saw me look at him and roared. “ROAAAR, dad! Roar like a whale!”
Love that Sam. Pure gold.
WatchSkyward - Lost Reels: @JasonPermenter
When I was almost finished editing (if you can call what I did “editing”) the original Skyward video, I found that I wanted snippets of lots of different people simply introducing themselves and saying, “and I use Birdhouse,” for a closing montage. A few more people responded to that call than had been able to respond to my original...
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WatchSkyward - The Lost Reels: @CranberryPerson
He says it was “ruthlessly cut” from the 10 minute video. See why ruthlessness had nothing to do with it.
Seriously though, there's enough for everyone....
Jane: I know he crashed our little all-girls office cubicle, but he's alright in my book.
Jenny: I guess.
Jane: He bakes! And he shares with us.
Jenny: I supposed he did bring in that delicious banana bread last week.
Dick: Yeah, see, ladies? I'm not so bad for a guy. I do a lot of things right. I cook, and...
Jenny: That's true.
Dick: ...I bake...
Jane: Mm hmm.
Dick: ...like a girl.
Jenny: ...
Jane: ...
Dick: Meaning I make enough for everyone. What I'm trying to say is I'm thoughtful. Say, does it suddenly feel warm in here to anyone else?
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IT'S ON: Marketing Strategies for Social Wait Now...
If you haven’t completely destroyed your brain with drugs and alcohol, you may remember that, a couple of months ago, Adam and I did a staggering amount of canvassing for votes for our SXSW panel proposal: Marketing Strategies for Social Wait Now I’m Lost.
And then you guys must have clicked. You must have clicked and clicked. You must have clicked your clicking fingers clear off. I...
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“I will never take you for a fool if you are spiritual, so long as you don’t tell...”
– While You Were Sleeping: On Belief.
Pretty fair deal, if you ask me.
“When I set about looking for independent data, however, to confirm the superior...”
– Digital Domain - AT&T Takes the Fall for the iPhone’s Glitches - NYTimes.com
Take Ben Compton with Food or Milk
frageelaytwit:
The most common side effects from Ben Compton are rash, ringing in the ears, headaches, dizziness, drowsiness, abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhea, constipation and heartburn. Ben Compton reduces the ability of blood to clot and therefore increase bleeding after an injury. Ben Compton may cause ulceration of the stomach or intestine, and the ulcers may bleed. Sometimes, ulceration...
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How do you overcome your profession's equivalent...
What a great question. Three things. I read and explore materials farther flung than whatever problem I’m hung up on, I force myself to keep making stuff, and I deliberately disrupt my work day with physical activity. When I’m stuck, I love to read. I set aside two hours of each day to read and explore and play. Sometimes it’s part of my work day. Sometimes it’s late at...
I think a really healthy thing for all of us would...
bcompton:
weselec:
I nominate Ben Compton.
I do kind of feel like it’s my turn, guys.
My GOD. Have you ever seen such thinly veiled, unbridled egotism?
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Why do people use so many commas?
Because they’re talking to themselves as they write. We are. Whatever. Besides, only Americans do that, and Americans, damnit, for all their faults, are empowered, through force, tradition, and manifest destiny, to behave in ways that are not just rash or domineering, but are often rebellious, not to mention creative.
Ask me anything
“I Love Everybody” by Lyle Lovett
Oh,...
Social means sharing identical values at all...
Dean didn’t diminish our friendships by pulling the plug on Favrd. Merlin didn’t diminish our value with an honest appraisal of his Twitter experience. Railing about our heroes’ and friends’ intellectual, psychological, or spiritual explorations is tantamount to staging a protest because a favorite band ventures into a genre we dislike. At best, it’s much ado about...
“Pyongyang announced Nov. 30 its decision to issue new currency and limit the...”
– North Korean Money Shift Sparks Violence - WSJ.com
Is it just me, or is this reminiscent of when Dean shut down Favrd? Or when Merlin mused about the possible benefits of conducting personal experiments with social media isolationism?
“Interrupting your focus on your own work, family, and friends in order to...”
– kung fu grippe
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What makes bad art bad?
Bad artists, of course. Rim shot.
Seriously, the answer depends on one’s art critical perspective. If I’m a Marxist theorist, art which doesn’t serve the common good is bad, and it’s the lack of service of the common good that defines its badness. If I’m a Formalist, things like disharmonious color or poor composition contribute to a work of art being bad.
In other...
“This will not stand, ya know, this formspring meme will not stand, man.”
– The Dude
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are tats on girls generally tacky, or is that just...
I kind of don’t care one way or another about tattoos. But I don’t get why you’d go to the trouble to tattoo something presumably meaningful on yourself, but obscure it by writing it in a dead language such as Latin. Make up your mind, you know? Unless it’s a gang thing, then forget I mentioned it. We’re cool.
Ask me anything
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Is this real life?
I find myself inordinately hung up on second-guessing the antecedent of the word, “this,” in your question. So, at least for me, yes.
Ask me anything
