February 2012
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Newsarama interviewed me about Kickstarter and Double Fine Adventure:
Double Fine turned to Kickstarter and the general public to try to free itself from the traditional publishing system, but instead of metaphorically painting the ceiling of their Sistine Chapel for one Pope, they are now working for tens of thousands of individuals who have paid for the right to feel invested in the outcome of...
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Things I washed in the washing machine this week:
Pilot Precise V5 extra fine point 0.5mm
U.S. Nickel
Burt’s Bees
Fortune cookie fortune
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New study suggests cognitive differences between...
University of Nebraska-Lincoln:
From cable TV news pundits to red-meat speeches in Iowa and New Hampshire, our nation’s deep political stereotypes are on full display: Conservatives paint self-indulgent liberals as insufferably absent on urgent national issues, while liberals say fear-mongering conservatives are fixated on exaggerated dangers to the country.
A new study from the...
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Game Night! This Wednesday @ 6
unchartedbooks:
We’re having an informal game night tomorrow (Wednesday the 8th) at the store from 6 till we’re finished (8 or 8:30, most likely).
Hey Chicago Tumblr friends, stop by Uncharted Books this Wednesday for some board games.
The last WWI veteran has died. →
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According to this Reddit thread on the size of whale sperm (disappointingly the same size as Human sperm), the fruit fly Drosophila bifurca produces a coiled sperm that is 2.3 inches long - nearly 20 times the size of its body.
New York Times:
The fly’s sperm, 1,000 times longer than those produced by humans, eclipses the previous record held by another fruit fly, Drosophila hydei, which...
essentialisinvisible asked: The Susan G Komen foundation is against Planned Parenthood?
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Balloon Juice:
Check out list after list after list of Komen’s corporate sponsors. Do you think New Balance, Ford and Georgia-Pacific signed on for a public fight over Planned Parenthood? When Yoplait put a pink lid on its yogurt, did they do it to make it easier to boycott their products? Because that’s what’s going to happen. Unlike most boycotts, it’s easy to figure out which products you...
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AMA with George Pelecanos, a writer and producer... →
George Pelecanos:
We worked it out together in the writers room. A lot of discussion and sometimes arguments. When it got heated, it came from a place of passion, and I think it was reflected in the final product. Yes, often times I had to fight for what I thought was right in a script. And sometimes David stood firm and saved me from my own worst instincts. I was given the penultimate...
“Nobody reads ads. People read what interests them. Sometimes it’s an ad.”
– Howard Gossage
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Mass Hysteria in Upstate New York
Slate:
Last August, 16-year-old Lori Brownell passed out while head-banging at a concert. A month later, she lost consciousness again at her school’s homecoming dance in upstate Corinth, N.Y. Brownell says her doctors put her on Celexa, but she only developed more symptoms, including involuntary twitching and clapping. In videos she posted to YouTube, Brownell flutters her fingers, touches her...
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Oregon Live:
Portland police said that 33-year-old David Allen Canterbury went to a local Toys R Us store, grabbed toy “Star Wars” lightsabers in each hand and started to hit customers with them. He then carried the lightsabers outside the store and swung at police. Officers tried to use a Taser to subdue him, but Canterbury successfully deflected one of the wires away.
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January 2012
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Sun Times:
Gov. Pat Quinn has a week to decide whether to put the brakes on a bill allowing Chicago to install speed-enforcement cameras — and so far the public feedback he’s received is overwhelmingly opposed to the measure.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel has spent months lobbying Quinn to sign the bill authorizing speed cameras near city schools and parks.
It turns out the public has been doing its own...
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Peter Singer for the New York Times:
If continuing brain research does in fact show biochemical differences between the brains of those who help others and the brains of those who do not, could this lead to a “morality pill” — a drug that makes us more likely to help? Given the many other studies linking biochemical conditions to mood and behavior, and the proliferation of drugs to modify them...
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Forbes:
Workers at the Regency Ceramics factory in India raided the home of their boss, and beat him senseless with lead pipes after a wage dispute turned ugly.
This is class warfare.
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Huffington Post:
A Republican member of the Indiana General Assembly withdrew his bill to create a pilot program for drug testing welfare applicants Friday after one of his Democratic colleagues amended the measure to require drug testing for lawmakers.
(via wordshappen)
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“[Barnes & Noble] have figured out how to use the store to sell e-books. Now,...”
– Carolyn Reidy, president and chief executive of Simon & Shuster.
This is the delusional logic entrenched publishers are betting on: a magical future will appear where iPods will drive people to buy CD players, smartphones will sell Franklin day planners, Nooks will help sales of paper, and...
ὑπαρχο
wrzelewo:
The ancient greek word ὑπαρχο (pronounced hoo-park-oh) has two meanings:
1) I exist 2) I am ready
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Kotaku:
I’d love to see the paperwork at N.C. State public safety after a Nerf-war staging of the popular “Humans vs. Zombies” tag game resulted in an emergency alert of gunmen roaming the campus. “Cause of disturbance: Zombie Apocalypse”?
State (full disclosure: my alma mater) staged an HvZ event sometime this week. During daylight hours Wednesday, pubic safety...
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How Big-Time Sports Ate College Life
New York Times:
Last month, Ohio State hired Urban Meyer to coach football for $4 million a year plus bonuses (playing in the B.C.S. National Championship game nets him an extra $250,000; a graduation rate over 80 percent would be worth $150,000). He has personal use of a private jet.
[Ohio State physics professor] Gordon Aubrecht says he doesn’t have enough money in his own budget to cover...
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“An average worker needs to work a mere 11 hours per week to produce as much as...”
– Erik Rauch, Productivity and the Workweek
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“[Google+] makes it really easy to sort people into the holes, which is good,...”
– Paul Ford (via @nickd)
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“People who view chimpanzees in human settings and wearing clothes are less...”
– The Lincoln Park Zoo, in their objection to CareerBuilder’s Super Bowl commercial
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There’s some interesting discussion today of what exactly a protracted Republican primary would mean for the 2012 election. I know everyone was waiting for me to weigh in, so here goes:
On its own, a long primary fight is neither “good” nor “bad” for a party; as with all things, context is key.
The conventional wisdom is that a long, dirty primary weakens all...
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“I was shooting a big tall building from across the street and a maintenance man...”
– Adam Lisagor, on shooting this video for Embark
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