Give it up, turn it loose

For a few weeks now I’ve been brainstorming a new way to organize all the online assets I’ve acquired. I use Flickr, del.icio.us and digg. I also use backpack and basecamp. I love all of these things very much but there is a problem: it’s just too damn many websites. When I thought of how many places have just one portion of my stuff it made me want to make something better. Enter Longing.
Longing is a system for organizing all your stuff–bookmarks, wishlists items, pictures and more–in one place. I’m really excited about it and I need your help. If you’d like to beta test when the time comes, or you have some great suggestions about how such a system could make your life easier, please sign up! Longing will launch incrementally over the coming months but it can only be the best website of its kind with your suggestions, because it’s made with bloggers and other smart folks in mind. Let the Longing begin!

Remember segregation. When I arrived in Greensboro at the end of my train trip last week it was at the restored 1920’s train depot. Originally built by the Southern Railway Corp. and turned over to the city upon Southern’s dissolution. It had fallen into a state of severe disrepair in 40 years. It was essentially rebuilt a few years ago at a cost of millions. Almost every detail has been restored, including the hand painted map of the eastern seaboard rail lines and the chalk board for arrivals and departures. There are blank spaces on the walls here and there, though, and I asked my dad later on what had been in those spots. Dad had taken a lot of trains in his youth and remembered the depot’s former glory. I knew that answer before he said it. “Colored water fountains.”

Judge: In Order To Teach Two Opposing Scientific Theories, You Need To Have Two Opposing Scientific Theories

“To be sure, Darwin’s theory of evolution is imperfect. However, the fact that a scientific theory cannot yet render an explanation on every point should not be used as a pretext to thrust an untestable alternative hypothesis grounded in religion into the science classroom or to misrepresent well-established scientific propositions[...]“

Also from the 139 page finding:

“The citizens of the Dover area were poorly served by the members of the
Board who voted for the ID Policy. It is ironic that several of these individuals,
who so staunchly and proudly touted their religious convictions in public, would
time and again lie to cover their tracks and disguise the real purpose behind the ID
Policy.[...]“

For bonus points see also: Lemon Test, Establishment Clause (*)

Taking the pulse Google style.

Crafty bastard stunt of the month

I have a ton of CDs lying around that I’ve burned for one reason or another but had no case for. I have them in stacks all over my office, and I hate buying cases because they seem so overpriced. So when I came into three unopened boxes of 5.25″ floppies I had a brainstorm. Here’s how to alter your old Oregon Trail floppies into something useful.

(1) Grab your favorite non alcohol, non acid solvent–I used Goo Gone–and take off the labels if you want. Not mandatory but I did it since some of these had hand written labels on them.

(2) With a good pair of scissors cut about 1/8″ of an inch of material from the top of the floppy. The top, for those of you born after 1989, is the end closest to the ‘hot dog’ with two notches. Be sure to make clean cuts so the insulation doesn’t fray. You’ll also want to leave the insulation (the stuff that feels kind of like a paper towel) inside to protect your CD.

(3) Insert your removable media of choice and marvel at your bastardly craftiness!

Q: What do you wish people knew about evolution?

A: They need to understand what evolution is about. Many of them don’t. I was truly shocked to be told by two separate religious leaders in this country [the U.S.] a few weeks ago–they both said something to the effect that, “I’ll believe in evolution when I see a tailed monkey give birth to a human.”

Richard Dawkins on the state of evolutionary theory. (via kottke)

On the war on Christmas, its proponents, their credentials or lack thereof and what to do about it.

Hey remember the future? With the rocket cars and the robots? It wanted us to tell you it’s here, and it wants to take a walk with you.

When I was about 13 I watched All the President’s Men for the first time. I suppose I did this for several reasons; some sense of obligation stemming from the indoctrination into politics courtesy of my family, or maybe the closer tie of my dad’s journalistic career. Whatever the reason I was not as outraged then as I have gradually grown to be. In my early twenties I began to see Bob Woodward as a modern-day Murrow, toppling the greed and hubris of Washington and attempting to separate their misdeeds from those of the good guys. As usual, I may have been a bit to quick to try and find a ‘good guy’ when maybe none existed, maybe not even Woodward.

According to Tina Brown in a fine article by Jay Rosen:

“When Woodward hears political gossip it’s not a couple of lowly hacks at the office water cooler — it’s a transaction between one Big Beast at the heart of the power jungle and another. He hoarded the info for some larger reportorial purpose because that’s what Big Beasts do. They don’t waste time fiddling around with the quotidian crumbs from the dish of the day when they’re aiming to haul in the big, fat story we’ll all be chewing on for months.”

Woodward and Bernstein broke Watergate due in some part to their lack of access to the Nixon White House–another administration with a ‘do not question, with us or against us’ policy–not their wealth of it. After those stunning revelations, the odds and ends of which carried on until very recently, Woodward found himself at the center of everything. A post Watergate Washington was one in which it was more dangerous not to talk to Woodward than to sit down and give him a few minutes. With that much power in tow it’s a very short ride to a place where you’ve lost touch; where you’re inside the bubble looking out.

Boys and girls, welcome to Dixie. Here’s your official handbook containing nuggets of wisdom about native Americans (and others) such as:

Q. Was it not wrong to drive them away and take their lands?

A. It was, and God will judge the white man for it.

Q. May not some of the wars we have had, have been such judgments?

A. Very likely.

An interesting read if only to see how glacially the American south moves. Most of these opinions are unchanged nowadays down here; they’re just rephrased. (Via MetaFilter)

Claiborne Paul Ellis - born January 8 1927; died November 3 2005. “A Retrieved Reformation” and “A Christmas Carol” all wrapped into one.

Ever wanted a screenshot from a DVD you’re watching on your Mac, but realized that Apple had made it impossible for reasons best known to the MPAA? Damn the man!

And how about the Walker, Texas Ranger clip Conan has been holding out on? Here it is! All the secrets are out of the bag today!

See, I’m much more pleasant after a bit of sleep.

(And I stand corrected about the MPAA thing; apparently Apple’s DVD player software sends an MP4 stream directly to the video card for best playback. As far as the OS is concerned you’re sitting there watching a blank screen, so there’s technically nothing to take a picture of. MPAA still sucks!)