9.05.2009

Standing up for all that's good and holy

Attempts to clamp down on bankers' bonuses to prevent another global financial crisis were in disarray last night as Britain and America opposed proposals by other European Union nations.


We are shocked, shocked!

“I’m sort of stunned . . . that even the jobs people are retaining in this recession aren’t at the wage level and hours level that they need to provide for their families,” said Heidi Shierholz, economist at the Economic Policy Institute.



Indicators

Monika Bauerlein and Clara Jeffery, Mother Jones - In the first half of 2009, 123 TV news shows were canceled, 106 newspapers folded, 110 bureaus closed, 556 magazines died, and 12,000 journalists lost their jobs...

Bells in the attic

Twelve people stood in a circle in a tower high above Wall Street. Eyes flitted from side to side, watching, concentrating, as arms rose and fell to a cascading cacophony of bells, bells, bells....

Trinity [Church] this week is the focus of the American bell-ringing world. The North American Guild of Change Ringers is holding its annual meeting at the church...

The city at night

In “New York Sleeps,” a new book of black-and-white photographs, familiar sites in New York City appear ghostly and spectral, devoid of the people who give the metropolis its movement and life. The book is not a fantastic depiction of how the city would look without humans, but rather the product of a photographer’s patient, unusual technique


9.04.2009

Another look at the "digital divide"

The fact that digital migration is revealing the same social patterns as urban white flight should send warning signals to everyone out there. And if we think back to the language used by teens who use Facebook when talking about MySpace, we should be truly alarmed.

9.02.2009

Low Tide At Sunrise

Photo: Phil Compton

A guy's gotta do...

A Westport lawmaker who voted to hike the state sales and alcohol taxes was spotted brazenly piling booze in his car - adorned with his State House license plate - in the parking lot of a tax-free New Hampshire liquor store, the Herald has learned....

Behind bars

Thanks to the Progressive Review's Undernews, here's a world map of prison populations.

9.01.2009

Scrude

Is this my day for stuff not working? I'm broken down on the Interstate, no transmission. Tow on the way.

Oh wait. Was this supposed to be a twit?

Later: Well that was sweet. I had an appointment with my mechanic tomorrow morning to investigate a kind of funny, whiny noise that seemed to be coming from beneath my car when it accelerated but hey, no need for that now. I found out what it was. The transmission. Died. Dead. On the Interstate. Amen.

Not that I was entirely unprepared. Last Spring I invested in a heavyweight AAA card, the kind that pays for towing anywhere on the planet (just about) on, well, let's call it something more than a hunch. Prescience I'd call it now, but then that's now.

The question is, will it be worth fixing. There will be some guys crawling around under it tomorrow trying to figure out an answer to that. I was hoping to get through one more winter with it but it's been clear for a while now the end is near. For the car, I mean. The end for the car.

Re: me, we'll see.


Maybe it's a feature, not a bug

Maybe it's Microsoft saying, you've got to quit sitting there all day staring at your computer - go smell the roses. Or at the very least, go take a shower, get dressed for work, and heat up a can of chili for lunch, which, in fact, is exactly what I've done since I booted up Vista, waiting for the damn thing to sort its freaking self out. Arrghhh.

So then I sit back down with a bowl of hot chili all crackered up and decide hey, who needs it, I'll just take this little task to work with me and do it there, so I click on the button that should turn Vista off and I get a big sign popping up that says "Windows Explorer is not responding." Dude. I could have told you that half an hour ago. For free.

So I dismissed that window and now it says "Windows Network and Sharing Center is not responding," and I say who cares? All I care about is where's the off switch or is that not responding too. What do I have to do to kill this thing, pull the plug?

(BTW Apple's new OS, Snow Leopard, is a no-brainer at $30.00. It will make your Mac boot noticeably faster, run noticeably faster, and do an assortment of cool new tricks. Plus the new QuickTime Player alone is worth the price.)

PS. Vista is now frozen on "Shutting Down."

That Daniel Burnham, he'd design anything - what a slut

Headline from today's Chicago Tribune:

California observatory threatened by wildfire designed by Daniel Burnham's architecture firm

8.31.2009

Dr. Pierce

Photo: Kellie B.

Greenwald on meritocracy

"They should convene a panel for the next Meet the Press with Jenna Bush Hager, Luke Russert, Liz Cheney, Megan McCain and Jonah Goldberg, and they should have Chris Wallace moderate it. They can all bash affirmative action and talk about how vitally important it is that the U.S. remain a Great Meritocracy because it's really unfair for anything other than merit to determine position and employment....

"Just to underscore a very important, related point: all of the above-listed people are examples of America's Great Meritocracy, having achieved what they have solely on the basis of their talent, skill and hard work -- The American Way. By contrast, Sonia Sotomayor -- who grew up in a Puerto Rican family in Bronx housing projects; whose father had a third-grade education, did not speak English and died when she was 9; whose mother worked as a telephone operator and a nurse; and who then became valedictorian of her high school, summa cum laude at Princeton, a graduate of Yale Law School, and ultimately a Supreme Court Justice -- is someone who had a whole litany of unfair advantages handed to her and is the poster child for un-American, merit-less advancement."


And more.