and x gets the square: Archive

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Dec 17, 2009

Dec 16, 20092 notes

This is a song for anyone -

Dec 15, 2009

“Allesina and Pascual borrowed Google’s PageRank algorithm and modified it to model ecosystems in the natural world. As they explained in September in the journal PLoS Computational Biology, the modified algorithm was more efficient than existing ecosystem-extinction models at identifying which species’ extinction would cause the greatest number of
other species in the food web also to go extinct. “Our algorithm is faster and computationally simpler,” Allesina says.” —NYT offers some great food for thought in their annual list of ideas. This is one of my faves - applying the Google algorithm to the animal kingdom. Life is getting weird, isn’t it? The Ninth Annual Year in Ideas - Magazine - NYTimes.com

Dec 14, 2009

Norway Beach House

Where you thinkin’ that you gotta run to now
With the beating of a diamond heart?
Hang on to the things that you’re supposed to say
Billions of stars that open to your fate

Dec 13, 2009

A short course on surviving the web (more amazingness from Merlin Mann):

soupsoup:

by Merlin Mann

Thing is: the internet’s made of IP addresses, opinions, and assholes. It’s what’s there. That’s the basic equipment.

Everything’s amplified. Except subtlety.

Say things you believe are true.

No one understands; no one cares.

Never explain yourself.

Apologize less; think more.

Avatars aren’t people; people aren’t avatars; “friends” aren’t friends.

Everyone thinks you’re talking to them. Seriously.

Distinguish attacks against people from attacks against one person.

Assume everyone is alone, drunk, and a little heavier than they’d like.

Never argue in public. Fucking never.

When in doubt, take it offline.

Filter, filter.

Embrace “hypocrisy.” It drives critics crazy.

Remember who your (real) friends are.

Remember who you are.

Remember you can always stop. Anything. Any time.

Never make lists of rules.

follow him if you don’t already - twitter.com/hotdogsladies

Dec 13, 2009189 notes

#merlin mann #internet

Heh!... Heh. :/

ninety9:

What do you call it when you base an entire thesis on a single source? Oh, a blog post.

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#sf #transitionalists #moving forward

Dec 11, 20099 notes

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Dec 10, 2009

a project, please help!

I’ll be conducting interviews with travelers at airports, train stations, and bus terminals this holiday season… what do you think are some interesting questions to ask?

Dec 10, 20093 notes

#traveling #pseudo-anthropology

Dec 10, 20091 note

Dec 10, 2009

“

…American households collectively consumed 3.6 zettabytes of information in 2008.

… I’ll be honest: this is the first time I’ve ever used the word zettabyte. I’ve heard of petabytes and even exabytes, but zettabytes are a whole new level of bytes. If a zettabyte is beyond your comprehension, too, it’s essentially one billion trillion bytes: a 1 with 21 zeros at the end. To put that into perspective, one exabyte — which equals 1/1000 of a zettabyte or 1 billion gigabytes — is roughly equivalent to the capacity of 5.1 million computer hard drives, or all the hard drives in Minnesota.

” —

via wikipedia: zetta (symbol Z) is an SI prefix in the SI (system of units) denoting 1021 or 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 000.

also of note: 1021 is the smallest four-digit prime whose sum of digits is equal to its length (via Number Gossip, my favorite thing on the internet today)

zetta also makes for a great girl’s name, IMHO. can’t wait to give it a whirl!

The American Diet: 34 Gigabytes a Day - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

H in New England Max Richter

[(Max Richter + Cubicle) x Depressive Disposition]^Winter = Bad Idea

Dec 4, 20091 note

Dec 4, 200998 notes

“Salman Rushdie has called her “a weird woman who seems to feel the need to alternately praise and spank.”[8] In a June 2005 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, author Norman Mailer criticized Kakutani as a “one-woman kamikaze” (Kakutani is of Japanese descent) who “disdains white male authors” and deliberately “bring(s) out your review two weeks in advance of publication. She trashes it just to hurt sales and embarrass the author.” Mailer also said that New York Times editors were “terrified” of Kakutani, and “can’t fire her” because she’s “a token,” “an Asiatic, a feminist.”[9] Moreover, in recent years, Kakutani’s particularly harsh reviews of books by famous authors (e.g., Updike, The Widows of Eastwick[1]) are followed by (usually milder or openly positive) reviews of the same titles by other NYT reviewers.” —

I’m not a huge fan of Kakutani’s opinions, but it’s always fun to see how much gender and ethnicity make their way into the disparaging of public intellects. that are not white and male, of course.

gotta love Norman Mailer.

Michiko Kakutani - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dec 4, 2009

“I guess the sort-of-crass term for what women are doing — well, what I am doing, and what I think at least some other women are doing — when we refuse to relinquish control of domestic tasks is “topping from the bottom.” My big post-panel revelation is that possibly women need to ease out of these patterns of thinking and behavior if we ever want to stand a chance of topping from the top.” —interesting post by emily gould re: post-/feminism, domesticity and the inescapable politicizing of romance… i’ve always carried this weird shame with me about not being a good cook. it’s gotten so bad that i can’t even read food sites or foodie blogs because they make me feel inadequate, not grown up, not ‘woman.’ they make me think, what’s wrong with me? why can’t i just learn to love to pick fresh, local ingredients from the community garden like every other wholesome brooklyn yippie? all this despite the fact that i don’t have any real interest in cooking, farmer’s markets, ‘locavores’, etc. it’s a strange problem to have… one rooted in some serious gender-guilt issues that i’m too tired to make sense of. anyways, read this article - it’s good. (Emily Magazine)

Dec 4, 2009

“Jim and Pam getting married did more than give Michael and excuse to hook up with Pam’s mom. It expanded the lens of The Office wide enough to reveal a disturbing fact: Jim and Pam don’t have any real friends. Suddenly, a romance that seemed like the natural progression for two quietly charming people revealed itself to be much more depressing. All of Jim and Pam’s witty asides and eyerolls in response to their officemates’ antics have stopped being expressions of untapped potential and started to look like passive-aggressive attempts to undermine their peers—who are the only people who will socialize with them.” —

<3 this, Meghan! So sad, so true.

Meghan Keane: ‘The Office’ is the Most Depressing Show on Television | The Awl

Dec 3, 2009

Ever wish you lived in NYC? Don’t.

Dec 3, 2009

“Surprised to find what philistines New Yorker readers are! The Lives of Others? Sicko! Black Book!? And here I was thinking the Apatow crush provocative… As for the real list, while a touch particular, and overly dry, I don’t think we’ll be seeing a better compilation of the best tendencies in the cinema these last ten years. What double-plus belongs? Always good to see favourites Garrel and Green getting plaudits. Akerman and Oliveira too. Also, Payne’s piece is indeed a sentimental masterpiece. What is missing? Denis, Reygadas, Audiard, Weerasethakul, Maddin and Hadzihalilovic are obvious enough to recall and deserve mention. I imagine, though, that the names of the really radical works won’t escape the hazy screening rooms of half-remembered midnight showings where we saw them. Also, I hope the temptation to make a List Unseen proves too strong.
Posted 12/1/2009, 10:36:14pm by antibes” —

New Yorker comment threads. Whole ‘nother ball game.

You tell those philistines, antibes! FLAME ON

Best of the Decade: The Front Row : The New Yorker

Sidenote: this has to the most bizarre “best of” list I’ve ever seen. The Other Half next to Knocked Up? Is this guy for real? I almost feel like this is some sort of inside joke.

Dec 2, 2009

“Fastest Falling (Global)
1. beijing 2008
2. euro 2008
3. heath ledger
4. barack obama
5. amy winehouse
6. kraloyun
7. dailymotion
8. bebo
9. wii
10. emule” —

… Awww. bye bye, bebo.

Google: Zeitgeist 2009

Dec 1, 20091 note

Dec 1, 2009

#birds #beautiful

and x gets the square

January 2010

25 posts

December 2009

42 posts