Briefs
Sunday, February 21st, 2016
Adamkhan.net
Tuesday, May 17th, 2022
Some 45 years after his victory, Kan tweets Menachem Begin’s historic victory speech [Hebrew].
We analyzed 9855 children from the USA who were part of the ABCD dataset with measures of intelligence at baseline (ages 9–10) and after two years. At baseline, time watching (r = − 0.12) and socializing (r = − 0.10) were negatively correlated with intelligence, while gaming did not correlate. After two years, gaming positively impacted intelligence (standardized β = + 0.17), but socializing had no effect.
It’s not only news that Israeli company Watergen is installing its drinking water generators in Syria, but that (opposition web site) Syria TV reported the fact.
Hispanics: the new world-historic anchor whilst America’s Whites flounder.
Religious liberty, always. Parental rights, always. Right to life, always. Free markets, always. Compassionate but firm on immigration, always.
Saturday, May 14th, 2022
Venkatesh invites us to join him in exploring the hive mind (very meta). What a candy-maker, this one.
Thursday, May 12th, 2022
A reminder to just ship it:
I was scrolling their landing page and I was happy and furious at the same time. Someone solved the problem that I was solving. It was like someone literally read my mind and started coding. WHAT.
I have previously sent a video of my app to a couple of people (closest I came to shipping it) so I started getting suspicious if someone actually shared the video of my app with these people because they were solving literally the same problem, and they most of the features that I had.
I started getting this overwhelming happy, sad, and panicky feeling. I literally cannot explain how I felt while scrolling their page.
At 1:03, this transcendent moment of moviemaking, John William’s theme counterpointing Alec Guinness’s delivery of George Lucas’s creation. “It surrounds us, penetrates us, it binds the galaxy together.”
So right now all the James Bond movies are available on Amazon Prime, and with the sudden plethora I was stumped which I’m due next to rewatch. When in doubt, it’s back to Goldfinger, just the first few minutes this time. Once again I’m blown away by just how good it is; it’s definitely arguable that both preceding and all subsequent movies lead to and emanate from it. The post-credit opening scene with the swoop down to the diving board and the cut to Felix watching the dive from the glass window — what delicious glamorous filmmaking. “Into Miami / Pigeon Game” is the 1-minute musical accompaniment.
Tuesday, May 10th, 2022
What a penetrating look at an earlier Israel by the recently-departed neoconservative scion Midge Decter. A paragraph chosen truly at random:
How was I to be prepared for the discovery that a kibbutz, salvation or damnation, transcendent new society or dustbin of failed transformations, was . . . a farm? I was, to be sure, quite aware that the kibbutzim engaged primarily in farming—that, too, was crucial to their ideology and mine—but from such awareness I had not even come near the image of those flat monotonous fields, unbroken by any visual mark of the drama that had created them, stretching to their termination at a dusty road or property line—the same as must be required anywhere in the world for the growing of cotton or corn or wheat. Degania Aleph, weeping Rachel of the whole movement, sits somnolently by the side of the road (for some reason, I can never envision History as taking place alongside an ordinary thoroughfare, accessible to any passing mortal; History must be climbed up to or stumbled down upon) near the Sea of Galilee, giving no physical hint of anything but a usually drab farm life—with neither marker nor monument to set her apart.
Sunday, May 8th, 2022
A limited but at least scientific study of fasting for 8 days among middle-aged males in Poland.
After 8 days of WF, all subjects were found to remain safe and feel the sense of well-being. However, the appearance of the above-mentioned adverse metabolic effects [decreased serum Ca and Mg++ concentrations, more acidic urine], despite partially effective renal compensations, suggests that the further continuation of fasting intervention by the subjects would be detrimental to their body.
The occasional juice with celery and spinach should help with calcium and magnesium depletion. Or pop a supplement?
Saturday, May 7th, 2022
Tony Fadell from his new Build book:
And you have to hold on to that “why” even as you build the “what”—the features, the innovation, the answer to all your customers’ problems. Because the longer you work on something, the more the “what” takes over—the “why” becomes so obvious, a feeling in your gut, a part of everything you do, that you don’t even need to express it anymore. You forget how much it matters.
When you get wrapped up in the “what,” you get ahead of people. You think everyone can see what you see. But they don’t. They haven’t been working on it for weeks, months, years. So you need to pause and clearly articulate the “why” before you can convince anyone to care about the “what.”
Monday, May 2nd, 2022
Rich Dad Poor Dad
Robert T. Kiyosaki
Perusing the library, I realized I had not read this classic. Well, it’s exciting, and successfully inculcates the importance of assets vs earned income. The author’s preference is to avoid the hard work of running a business and instead use salaried income to buy stocks, and with any winnings, buy real estate — or finding other creative ways to finance the purchase of real estate. That’s the financial technique, but there are personal techniques as well, such as differentiating between poor (an identity) and broke (a situation), and exchanging the thought “I can’t afford it” to “How can I afford it?”. Nice, and one I wouldn’t mind to have available permanently.
Some choice quotes:
Savings are used only to create more money, not to pay bills.
I use my desire to consume to inspire and motivate my financial genius to invest.
Saturday, April 30th, 2022
Blue Moon
Lee Child
The great Reacher TV series led me to try a Kindle sample, which read well. Feeling in safe hands, I searched the local public library for whichever they had in stock. They had three, and I picked Blue Moon. I began with enjoyment, reflecting on the fictional dream created as we move from little setpiece to little setpiece (a Greyhound bus, a bar, a rundown suburban home). I so enjoy that imaginative experience of fun fiction and love inducing it in others. But after a while this story becones preposterous. The waitress he meets turns out to be a superwoman, and her friends become Reacher’s special forces army as the book climaxes with attacks on the gangsters’ lairs, the body count like that of a one-person shooter. It ends up being… daft, so I think that’s it for me.
Thursday, April 14th, 2022
In an interview on Israel’s national broadcaster Kan, this is a fair-minded well-informed backgrounder on Temple Mount tensions.
Jonathan Haidt is wise enough to note that it is mainly America, not necessary the rest of the world, that has gone particularly mental the past decade. Haidt blames social media. But the word “marriage” does not occur even once in the article, despite the decade having seen same-sex marriage transformed from oxymoronic absurdity to self-evident cudgel. If a human institution so deep — deeper than the nationstate, than monotheism, even than history itself — can be so decidedly upended, then what chance has anything else of standing, the collective subconscious must wonder.
Monday, April 11th, 2022
Screenwriting — and acting — genius: Billions, Cory Stoll as Mike Prinz, after a bluff that apparently puts Chuck Rhodes in prison, is watched by the replacement attorney general as he leaves to go to the elevator. Feeling faint and queasy from moments ago losing $3.5b in crypto while pretending to know nothing about it, he leans on the wall in a way a person just wouldn’t normally do. And she knows he was lying. On this subtle display of body language rests so much. Plus, the episode ends with Jerry Garcia singing “Don’t You Let That Deal Go Down”.
Tuesday, April 5th, 2022
Testing entire BPMN process paths — a Camunda blog article. I guess I’m being hopelessly naive but it seems to me BPMN could be used to test software logic; software doesn’t just power processes, software itself is comprised of processes, ie, the transformations that happen to variables.
Cool — Bloomberg’s Pret Index shows that coffee sales at UK airports are now higher than pre-pandemic.
Tuesday, March 29th, 2022
Niall Ferguson’s important and much-quoted Bloomberg piece of March 22nd on the cynical/optimistic Biden strategy for Ukraine:
It is, when you come to think of it, archetypal Realpolitik to allow the carnage in Ukraine to continue; to sit back and watch the heroic Ukrainians “bleed Russia dry”; to think of the conflict as a mere sub-plot in Cold War II, a struggle in which China is our real opponent. … The optimism, however, is the assumption that allowing the war to keep going will necessarily undermine Putin’s position; and that his humiliation in turn will serve as a deterrent to China. I fear these assumptions may be badly wrong and reflect a misunderstanding of the relevant history.
Monday, March 28th, 2022
It’s time to catch up: the UAE’s foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed (a son of the UAE’s founder) speaks in his rather nice English accent at the close of the Negev Summit in Sde Boker.
Friday, March 25th, 2022
Top-flight series of Hebrew animated shorts חדר וחצי about a bachelor clown and his home.
Tuesday, March 15th, 2022
The prime ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia have met with President Volodymy Zelenskyy. The glimmerings perhaps of a significant new bloc.
The BoJo Doctrine: Exploit the potential of all renewable energy technologies in this country, from tidal power to hydro to geothermal … Make a series of big new bets on nuclear power.”
Thursday, March 10th, 2022
In the new inflation, the water-cooler is gone, the press serves as water-cooler, the government as press. This does have the fortunate effect of leaving the people available to govern.
Tuesday, March 8th, 2022
At TidBits Adam Engst points out that there are other professionals using Macs beyond “developers, photographers, filmmakers, 3D artists, scientists, music producers” who may not necessarily need such giant power but could nonetheless do with some improvements.
I remain flabbergasted that the FaceTime cameras in even Apple’s latest Macs are so pathetic. Even the cheapest iPad and iPhone put the newest Mac cameras to shame, and quite a few iPad and iPhone models have Face ID support for authentication. We’re talking about technology that Apple has used numerous times. So why isn’t it in Macs?
…
You can get an iPad with cellular connectivity, so why not a MacBook? The lack of a cellular option for Apple’s laptops has been a glaring omission for years and is yet another example of how Apple doesn’t acknowledge the needs of mobile professionals.
I hadn’t thought of any of these things, but they are obvious.
Full transcript of Mohammed bin Salman’s interview with Graeme Wood of The Atlantic — and JCPA’s take on it:
This is the first time the Saudi crown prince has publicly referred to Israel as a “potential ally.” He also spoke about Iran in a different tone. In an Atlantic interview four years ago, Bin Salman compared Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to “Hitler” and said Iran was leading the “axis of evil.” This time such talk was replaced by calling the Iranians “neighbors” of Saudi Arabia.
Exercise is upstream of everything.
ASK
Friday, March 4th, 2022
Thursday, March 3rd, 2022
Bari Weiss seems bigger than the NYT! Her sponsor is Disney+, her panel is Ferguson, Mead and Fukuyama, no less.
Tuesday, March 1st, 2022
Russia, as parlance goes, is too big to fail; we need to forge it an off-ramp from this horrific self-inflicted disaster, as Commentary’s Noah Rothman argues in “What if Russia loses”, Sam Altman of YCombinator tweets, and presumably plenty of other smart people are saying.
Putin though is probably not quite ready to take it, thinking he may yet regain the military upper hand, as attested by the lengthy convoys headed today to Kyiv. He may then as Putin biographer Anita Hill fears, savvily offer the delectable compromise of partitioning Ukraine, wherein he gets the east and others can divvy up the rest. Joe Biden has after all a predilection for territorial break-up — he thought it right for Iraq.
Fortunately it seems we are well beyond Europe countenancing such temptations; Germany has reoriented around the danger emanating from Russia, the UK is acting on what it called it “a catastrophe on our continent” [emphasis mine], and a myriad of surprising others are joining the fray each in their way (Switzerland, Finland, etc).
Also, it does seem self-evident that Vlad the Mad has lost some of the faculties he’s had up to now, so that such diplomatic savvy might never be forthcoming from him. As of now, Russian diplomatic efforts in such forums as the United Nations are of the Baghdad Bob sort even as the Ukrainians are performing masterfully, not just spreading the word but showing Westerners (and probably everyone else): we’re your sort of people — more, we’re the sort of people you hope you are.
Once again, the West must win firmly, though this time — unlike after the collapse of its Soviet Union guise — there should be effective stroking of Russia’s vanities.
Cogent interview with Putin biographer Fiona Hill. She floats the notion that he’d be happy to have Ukraine broken up:
In 2015, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was at the Munich Security Conference after the annexation of Crimea and the war in Donbas. And he talked about Ukraine not being a country, saying pointedly that there are many minority groups in Ukraine — there are Poles and there are Romanians, there are Hungarians and Russians. And he goes on essentially almost inviting the rest of Europe to divide Ukraine up.
So what Putin wants isn’t necessarily to occupy the whole country, but really to divide it up. He’s looked at Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and other places where there’s a division of the country between the officially sanctioned forces on the one hand, and the rebel forces on the other. That’s something that Putin could definitely live with — a fractured, shattered Ukraine with different bits being in different statuses.
Partitioning the country; that’s a solution Biden always goes for. And if Putin suggests it, the Europeans may pressure the Ukrainians to accept it. Though it could well be that the European mood has changed sufficiently so that even the newly feckless United States could accept that, they won’t.
Monday, February 28th, 2022
At last, Mark Steyn is writing again.
I take faint glimmers of a new seriousness in the chancelleries of Europe not as a sign of Nato “unity”, but as the dawning realization that the US has blown the last thirty years and they’re now in a post-American world, and, absent course-correction, ultimately on the same grim trajectory as Ukraine.
In Tablet, Lee Smith writes lists the plethora of wickedly poor decisions that led to the Russian invasion of Ukraine:
Ukraine gave up its nuclear arsenal in 1994 in exchange for U.S. security guarantees in the event its neighbors, Russia in particular, turned hostile. What kind of strategy dictates that a state hand over its security vis-a-vis local actors to a country half the world away? No strategy at all. Ukraine was not able to transcend its natural geography as a buffer state — and worse, a buffer state that failed to take its own existence seriously, which meant that it would continue to make disastrously bad bets.
…
By tying itself to an American administration that had shown itself to be reckless and dangerous, the Ukrainians made a geopolitical blunder that statesmen will study for years to come: A buffer state had staked its future on a distant power that had simply seen it as an instrument to annoy its powerful neighbor with no attachment to any larger strategic concept that it was willing to support.
To sum it up in few words: “10% for the big guy”.
In this interview, Francis Fukuyama points out:
One of the things that’s happened over the past couple of weeks is that Russia has effectively reabsorbed Belarus. It had been an independent country, after 1991, but it’s effectively become part of Russia.
Israel’s Channel 12 News has tweeted out this video of an Israeli Ukrainian soldier, saying in Hebrew:
It’ll be ok. All the world is with us. They are finished regardless. And Putin won’t be able to do anything with this. This was his last war. And that’s it, we will win regardless. We already beat them actually, even if we die, we beat them. It’s incontrovertible.”
Saturday, February 26th, 2022
At /r/interestingasfuck, President of Ukraine Zelensky plays piano without his hands. As humanity rallies to ballsy Ukraine, it seems Putin has lost already?
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2022
I just had to read this one entitled “Why Putin didn’t invade Ukraine during the last U.S. administration”. The question should be a discomfiting one indeed for people of the author’s ilk. His response, prefaced by a prudent “perhaps”: “because Putin was so pleased to see Trump pursuing goals in line with Moscow’s agenda”. Steve Benen is a producer for The Rachel Maddow Show.
He really was the best: P. J. O’Rourke on Israel. I could excerpt any damn paragraph, but here’s just one:
There was no sign of war. Plenty of soldiers were to be seen, carrying their weapons, but this is no shock to the frequent traveler. For all that the world looks askance at America’s lack of gun control, foreigners love to wave guns around. Nothing about the Israeli Defense Forces is as odd as Italian carabinieri brandishing their machine pistols while grimly patrolling that flash-point Venice.
The kids wanted a Nintendo Switch. I thought — and was advised — a used Wii would be wise. Because kids, we now have both. Ever since my first computer, an Apple //c, your churlish host has considered a gaming console redundant and wasteful. But, like Apple, Nintendo it seems is a universe of excellence into which to dive. Yamauchi No. 10 Family Office is the website of the Nintendo founding family. Cool scrolling, ambitious mission, constant motion, and the music sounds like Son of Jeff Lynne.
Tuesday, February 22nd, 2022
For our study, we followed almost 1 million U.S. Army soldiers for nearly five years. We first asked them to rate their well-being — their happiness, if you will — along with their optimism, and then tracked which soldiers later received awards based on their job performance … We saw four times as many awards earned by the initially happiest soldiers (upper quartile) compared with those who were unhappiest initially (lower quartile) — a huge difference in performance between those groups.
Sunday, February 20th, 2022
America today: the fractious school board meeting. I blame, well, so many things. Corn subsidies? No-fault divorce? The lack perhaps of a dietary component in Protestantism? But despite the madness this video shows that the will to civility still remains, which is a tendril for hope.
Pierce Brosnan watches Goldeneye for the first time since he made it. We got lucky that as a child his first great cinematic experience was Goldfinger. Like any red-blooded boy he had the toy Corgi car. Has anyone suggested as a successor… Russell Brand?
Saturday, February 19th, 2022
Following Tyler Cowen’s growing presence of a web-surfing morning, I note that although the elite is Leftist, the most eminent and influential public thinkers are not. As well as TC I’m thinking of Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, Niall Ferguson, Elon Musk. Maybe now even Joe Rogan?
Perhaps it’s a question of age; these guys are all Gen Xers more or less, and all would probably have considered themselves socially liberal and economically conservative by the standards of their youth and early adulthood in the 80s and 90s. There is also a large swathe of others in their wake.
Who on the dominant Left has their stature? Paul Krugman? Is it still Noam Chomsky?
Three of the five I mention are or were known first as builders of enterprises, and TC is now getting into that game, as is Ferguson with the new University of Austin.
Monday, February 14th, 2022
Oh, the minor yet multitudinous wonders of our age! I just discovered Yarn, where you “search by word or phrase for TV, movie and music clips”. What a fun business to have created!
Marc Andreessen has just tweetstormed a section of an Ayn Rand lecture on the contrast between the tribes of Apollo 11 and of Woodstock. Whilst I commend his pro-Deplorables stand, I do feel that as one of the fathers of the age he could be utilizing his mystique to do more, starting perhaps with banging heads in San Francisco. During a recent podcast interview with I forget whom, he dismissed laughingly the prospect of running for office; perhaps he should reconsider. Also, just for some rounding, he might want to read Mailer’s Of a Fire on the Moon, surely an Apollonian who yearns for the Dionysian.
Friday, February 11th, 2022
Radical Protestantism leads the pilgrim from the “howling wilderness” and the “enchanted ground” of the Old World and leads him to the Canaan of the spirit. The question is addressed to, and answered by, the individual pilgrim. The Jew is born into the people of Israel; the Christian seeks adoption into the Israel of the Spirit. American Christianity retains the radical individualism of its Protestant forebears, who chose as individuals to become Americans. We have become Americans by adoption, and we have adopted the history of Israel as our national common memory. A profound parallelism is involved. The biblical Election of Israel was not a prize that God awarded to an unlikely nation of shepherds, but rather the outcome of Israel’s free choice to accept the Torah and the responsibility of election. It is our free choice to become Americans that is the cornerstone of our culture.
Thursday, February 10th, 2022
A web-based treasure, Alexey Guzey’s Theses on Sleep, in which he makes the obvious yet original parallel between sleeping and eating, and that we should probably be sleeping less than we do.
Experiencing hunger is normal and does not necessarily imply that you are not eating enough. Never being hungry means you are probably eating too much. Experiencing sleepiness is normal and does not necessarily imply that you are undersleeping. Never being sleepy means you are probably sleeping too much.
Wednesday, February 9th, 2022
From the JET Lab, a new record has been set in nuclear fusion. Tellingly, the BBC news item covering the story has only a single tag: climate change.
Tuesday, February 8th, 2022
No nominations for The French Dispatch. Huh. Variety is also surprised.
50-year-old wife...
MICROSOFT Censoring Searches Politically Sensitive Chinese Names...
China Warns USA 'Dangerous Situation' Forming Over Taiwan...
WEEKEND: Sweltering summer heat in TX to swell into east...
NKorea weapons threat casts shadow on Biden visit...
At WELLS FARGO, Quest to Increase Diversity Leads to Fake Job Interviews...
100-year records to fall...
Johnny's longtime agent testifies against him...
At Trial, Depp and Heard Dress to Suggest...
Is Happy the zoo elephant legally person? Court decides...
Ex-Bandmate Says He Saw Bruises on Amber...
Another Triple Crown long shot? Fenwick is 50-1 in Preakness...
Secret Life of Tokyo Coke Baron...
UPDATE: DRUDGE APP IPHONE, IPAD...
VAN DYKE HAPPY AT 96!
John Fetterman Wins on Vibes Against Conor Lamb
Dems in Disarray: Leadership Struggle, Bleak Polling
Ping-Pong Politics Is the New Normal
The High Cost of Biden Admin's Record-High Gas Prices
2020 and the Haunting of the American Mind
The U.S. Housing Market Has Peaked
The Air Conditioning Paradox
Renowned Cancer Researcher Now Collecting Unemployment
Russian Suffering Matters. Cancellation Doesn't
PA Likely Vote Range Oz +1,000 Votes to McCormick +100
Biden Admin Needs To Take the Blame for Inflation
NYC Mayor Bucks Progressives on 'Gifted' Education
Restrictive Gun Laws Didn't Stop the Buffalo Shooter
Musk: Dems 'Have Become the Party of Division & Hate'
Dem Voters Want Dem Pols Who Do Things
Links for the intellectually curious, ranked by readers.
Data Integration Guide: Techniques, Technologies, and Tools
Engineer turns plastic into bricks that are reportedly stronger than concrete
Smarking (YC W15) is hiring a senior ML engineer to scale dynamic pricing engine
Cockpit Project
ARPANET Information Brochure (1985) [pdf]
HTTP Cats
Render mathematical expressions in Markdown On GitHub
The Coming Food Catastrophe
Tell HN: The loneliness of a pretty good developer
RIP Good Times (2008)
The Lisp Implementafion for the PDP-1 Computer [pdf]
Vangelis has died
Google open sourced PSP (hardware cryptographic offload)
Kaiten: Japan’s fully-manned kamikaze torpedos during WWII
State Dept Guidance on DPRK IT Workers [pdf]
The risks of helicopters in Israel’s war on the rising tide of Palestinian terror
Gantz: In just weeks, Iran will have enough fissile material for an N-bomb
Hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers evacuated from Mariupol
Iranian cruise missile sent to Hizballah could carry nuclear warhead. Sea blockade planned for Israel
Veteran police commando Noam Raz killed in counter-terror operation. First IDF findings on Abu Akleh’s death
Qatar to help Iran free moneys frozen by sanctions
First US intel admission of Russian advances in Ukraine
Palestinians refuse to show Israel the bullet extracted from dead journalist
Arab Raam party seizes on reporter’s death to commandeer Israel’s war on terror
Bennett: Video indicates Palestinian gunfire killed Al Jazeera reporter
Prepared for the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
Hamas Wins Birzeit University Student Election
Window of Opportunity for Stopping Iran Nukes Is Narrowing
Did Palestinians Back the Nazis in World War II?
A West Bank Hot Spot Reemerges
The Treasure of the Jews
Iranian-Born Officer Trains Israeli Intelligence Analysts in Persian
Iran Weeks Away from Having Enough Material for a Nuclear Bomb
The Palestinians Do Not Overshadow Israel-Morocco Relations
House Votes to Condemn Rising Anti-Semitism
British Home Secretary: "BDS Movement Is Racist"
Hamas Appeals to Russia for Support in Confrontation with Israel
U.S. Denies Involvement in Israeli Exercise Targeting Iran
Israel Ramping Up Gas Output, Looks to Help Supply Europe
Iran Jailed Me for My Last Op-Ed
Russian S-300 Battery Fires at Israeli Jets over Syria
Sudan arrests Communist Party figures as thousands protest coup
Trawling Iraq’s threatened marshes to collect plastic waste
US military review of civilian casualties in Syria flawed, claims Human Rights Watch
Outrage, shock among Fatah members over Birzeit University student election loss
Turkey’s opposition to NATO’s Nordic enlargement fuels row ahead of June summit
Escalating cost-of-living crisis hits Lebanese hard just days after parliamentary elections
Egypt launches National Climate Change Strategy 2050
UN envoy concludes meeting with Yemeni public figures
Swedish citizen risking Iran execution is ‘hostage’: Amnesty
US military review of civilian casualties in Syria flawed, claims Human Rights Watch
A quarterly magazine of urban affairs, published by the Manhattan Institute, edited by Brian C. Anderson.
Get to Know Thy Neighbor
General social trust is no replacement for local attachments.Overpromising and Underdelivering
Biden’s new housing-supply plan would likely have only a modest effect.Secession in Atlanta?
Buckhead wants to become its own city, but practical problems stand in the way, for now.Smuggling in Radical Instruction
New York educational authorities attempt to introduce divisive racial concepts via “transformative social and emotional learning.”Recovering Statesmanship
10 Blocks podcast<strong>The stories held by small objects</strong>. What a cookbook, a violin, and a diary can tell us about Nazism
By 1916, <strong>Wittgenstein</strong> had laid out his solution to philosophy’s quandaries. But then he was pushed beyond his “mathematical train of thought”
<strong>Jhumpa Lahiri</strong>: “Once art weds itself to a social or political purpose it is bled of its true purpose”
<strong>Selling Einstein</strong>. He was the best-paid American scientist of his time. He's been worth much more ever since
<strong>Internet-bashing</strong> is having a moment, at least among philosophy-minded leftists. But what does resistance entail?
The genre of <strong>literary biography</strong> is old and of debatable value. Is it really just a form of higher gossip?
In 1975, Caitlin Flanagan met <strong>Joan Didion</strong> at a dinner in Berkeley. She’s been chasing Didion ever since
Boeing’s troubled Starliner launches for International Space Station in key test
Canada bans China’s Huawei and ZTE from 5G networks
US lawmakers consider actions to increase support for Taiwan
Boris Johnson escapes further partygate fines as rival Keir Starmer’s plan backfires
British PM Boris Johnson’s pro-Brexit father Stanley becomes French
Spain’s scandal-hit former king Juan Carlos returns home after nearly two years in exile
US aims to arm Ukraine with advanced anti-ship missiles to fight Russia
Vangelis: Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner composer dead at 79
Ukraine war: Joe Biden welcomes Sweden, Finland leaders in push for Nato bid, despite objections from Turkey
Female referees to officiate at men’s Fifa World Cup finals for first time, as 3 officials chosen for Qatar 2022 tournament
Brain candy for Happy Mutants
A Nazi pedophile MI5 agent violently terrorizes women, and the British government and police are protecting him and censoring the BBC
Elon's Musk: billionaire allegedly exposed himself to employee of SpaceX, which paid her $250,000 to keep her mouth shut
Sore loser Madison Cawthorn threatens Dems and GOP with "Dark MAGA" in cringeworthy tweet
School bus monitor charged after choking a 7-year-old child, but still has his job
Ditch the extra cup of coffee. This gadget can really boost your productivity
Beatboxer spits out incredible deep house groove
Watch: Is this one cat looking in a mirror, or two cats in synchronized play?
Iconic composer Vangelis of "Chariots of Fire" and "Blade Runner" fame, RIP
Parents sue Apple after Amber Alert "tore apart" son's eardrums
Pharma bro Shkreli and Fyre Festival fraudster McFarland both receive early release from prison
An optical illusion makes this 3D printed Homer Simpson sponge holder fantastic
911 dispatcher put on leave, might be fired after hanging up on Buffalo shooting caller
Seth Meyers gives fascist loser Madison Cawthorn a worthy send-off
What are these strange metal spheres that fell from the sky in India?
Let’s eliminate the Covid test entry requirement for the U.S.
Thursday assorted links
Cryptoeconomics!
My Conversation with the excellent Daniel Gross
Russia fact of the day
Wednesday assorted links
Remote work and home prices
The new Covid equilibrium
Podcast with the excellent Patrick O’Shaughnessy
Tuesday assorted links
The State of Public Transit in the Nation’s Capital
My *Talent* podcast with the excellent David Wright
What is the best interview question of all time?
The excellent Matt Clifford does a *Talent* podcast with Daniel Gross and me
Ask and they shall deliver
Where the design community meets.
Free Education Web App Design
Game of Codes - World of Back-end Technology
A Lowdown On Bug Reports And How To Create Good One
Food Delivery Business Model | UberEats vs DoorDash & Benefits
Flowbite - Figma Design System
Design Sports Betting App Like Bet365
Project Management Dashboard Template
Ideas from Developers on Handling UX Feedback (I actually interviewed them)
6 Stunning WordPress Drone Themes Worth Having
8 Single Product WordPress Themes with Character
ProtoPie - New Free & Pro Plans!
3 illustration themes to support LGBT+
Download 17000+ Design From UIHUT. Use SOL10 Coupon for 10% Discount
Intro to Bravo Studio
Find a home that's perfect for you with our fresh exploration of the Real Estate Web App
Rumors and news on everything Apple since 1997
Pixelmator Pro update released with improved Photos Browser
Compared: OnePlus 10 Pro vs iPhone 13 Pro & iPhone 13 Pro Max
How to answer calls to your iPhone on macOS Monterey and iPadOS 15
Compared: iPhone 13 Pro Max vs Sony Xperia 1 IV
The best iPad accessories for digital artists
Apple's mixed-reality headset has reached 'advanced' stage of development
iPhone made up half of the North American smartphone market in Q1
Apple's MacBook Air with 16GB RAM is on sale for $1,099 & in stock
Apple promises changes in Final Cut Pro after video editor complaints
Apple TV+ comedy series 'Trying' to return for season three on July 22
Studio Display 15.5 update minimally improves camera and performance
Pebblebee releases two new Find My enabled trackers with rechargeable batteries
Opinions on corporate and brand identity work.
Announced: Brand New will Shift to Subscription Model
Spotted: New Logo for Blue Islands
Linked: Louis Vuitton Architecture
Noted: New Name and Logo for St. Louis City SC
Reviewed: Friday Likes 339: From Studio MPLS, Wade and Leta, and Unifikat Design Studio
Spotted: New Logo and Identity for Vitkus Clinic by Tandemo
Spotted: New Logo and Identity for Netgen by IDnaGroup
Linked: Biden &Harris &Decimal
Noted: New Logo and Identity for Correos de México by Carl Forsell
Reviewed: New Logo and Identity for BERA by How & How
Spotted: New Logo for Playtika
Spotted: New Logo and Identity for The 19th by Page 33 Studio
Linked: Objects may be Closer than they Ap-pear
Noted: New Logo and Identity for Zappos Adaptive by Eric&Todd
Reviewed: New Logo and Identity for Lot61 by Smörgåsbord
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Lenovo halves its ThinkPad workstation range
US won’t prosecute ‘good faith’ security researchers under CFAA
Intel plans immersion lab to chill its power-hungry chips
US recovers a record $15m from the 3ve ad-fraud crew
Lawmakers launch bill to break up tech giants' ad dominance
America bucks global smartphone decline with help from Apple
Export bans prompt Russia to use Chinese x86 CPU replacement
Acer's TravelMate laptops arrive – complete with Microsoft Pluton chips
Ryzen shines with remote management on Qualcomm Wi-Fi kit
Fastly buys dev platform and web IDE Glitch
Start your engines: Windows 11 ready for broad deployment
Corporate investments are a massive hidden source of carbon emissions
experiments in refactored perception
Crisis Mindsets
I’m writing this post in stolen moments of calm in what’s turning out to be one of those rough, stormy simmering-crisis weeks. A major pet emergency is coinciding with a minor but urgent medical thing with one household member, and a bunch of routine long-scheduled medical care for another. Fortunately my wife and I have […]The Map
It was the most sublime map ever made; superbly detailed and wonderfully dynamic. They said a trillion-parameter model drove the real-time updates. Whether you wanted a simple route to your destination or a restaurant recommendation, if you were in the territory, this was the map you wanted. They said it was so responsive to even […]Elderblog Sutra: 13
The last time I added to this blogchain in March 2021, it felt like the writing was on the wall as far as traditional blogging was concerned, thanks to the mixed blessings of the text renaissance. Not only was blogging as practiced here on ribbonfarm dot com dying for real (update: continuing to decline on […]