Monday, November 29, 2010

Finding Your Way

It can be a big scary world out there and sometimes you just don't have time to fold your map up neatly and tuck it away somewhere safe to keep it from getting bent out of shape.

Thanks to Emanuele Pizzolorusso you can just cram your map in your bag or a pocket and be on your marry way.  Check out Design Boom for more shots...


If you're headed to NYC, London, Berlin, Rome, or Paris you can buy one for the trip.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

The Only Good Republican

Is apparently a lame duck Republican.  Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC) lost to a tea party backed extremist this past round of elections and since then he's been calling things pretty clearly.  Yesterday he went after his climate change denying colleagues...



Think Progress has more on Inglis and his straight shooting of late.

And yes the Holiday Inn Express line makes it all worthwhile.  Not a firebrand talk but a good one.

John McCain's Legacy

Take it away Mr. Stewart and friends...

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
It Gets Worse PSA
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full EpisodesPolitical HumorRally to Restore Sanity


Knock on wood that the Daily Show has their act together with embed codes and we can start showing them to you again from time to time...

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Read This Now - Andy Harris Makes Me Sick

Steve Benen has the story of a newly elected Republican Congressman who is outraged that he doesn't get his taxpayer subsidized health care until February and wants to know why he can't purchase coverage from the government to cover the gap (that would be a public option).  What makes it even more worthwhile is that Harris spent the entire campaign promising to repeal the Affordable Care Care (that's health care reform if you aren't into the details).

Make sure to read the whole thing, the zinger is worth it.

(via DE)

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

No Time To Read

Grad School is keeping me busy of late and I have no time for pleasure reading, or all the other stay up to date reading that blurs that line so well.  Suffice it to say that the New Yorkers are stacking up.

So it was really nice this weekend to get to hear a great little piece of writing on the radio.  The winner of NPR's most recent round of three minute fiction had just been announced and they read the piece, which was really outstanding, and did a nice interview with the winner and the judge, author Michael Cunningham.

If you're not familiar with three minute fiction, NPR's judge gives a prompt, the first and last lines of the story this time, and you write one that can be read in three minutes (about 600 words).

To read Roosts, by Zach Brockhouse click here.  It's so worth the three minutes...

Remeber those Jordan - Bird Mickey D's Spots?

They could do a new set with Kyle Singer...



I may still have not been to a game, and I'm definitely nonplussed about college sports these days, but that's pretty impressive.

(via LC)

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Getting High

I've always liked this info-graphic from the WaPo on DC's height limits and I thought that I had shared it before but couldn't find it after discussing the limits in a class this morning.  So here you go.  I don't want to get into all of the specifics of the arguments that surround maintaining the limits or loosening, especially considering that I doubt any changes are looming due in no small part to the need for congressional legislation to change the rules.

I will say that I grew up in DC (ok, Takoma Park) and I'm a staunch defender of the limits.  I also find it amusing that it's mostly displaced NYC folks who agitate for a change and that the argument that DC is empty in the evening because it doesn't have enough density is laughable at best.

But enjoy the info-graphic before I get caught up in a rant, and if you must know more check out this post from We Love DC.

Monday, November 8, 2010

To Be Or Not To Be

The Lebron Nike commercial was stupid, but the Cleveland response is priceless and pitch perfect and may never be topped...



You can watch the original commercial here.

(via kottke)

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Millenium Falcon Gun Turret To Go

Um this makes me want to get one of those phones...



Hint: make sure you pay attention to the game background, yeah that's it.

Story is at MobileCrunch.

How FDR Rolled

I'm not sure what will come of the next couple of years in terms of American governance, but I think that it's safe to say there will only be more time wasting and name calling and obstruction, and that much much less will be accomplished than was in the past two years.

For all of my complaints about the Obama Administration not throwing its weight around as much as I would have liked, it's worth noting how much they did get done.  Ezra Klein (who you should be reading) did a better job of that than I could a couple of days ago, make sure to skim it at least.

In terms of electoral politics and talking points though it's hard to argue with this angry take over on First Draft.  I'll give you the ending but you should check it out, it's short and cathartic and quite blue (in the language sense).

You had majorities. You had power and you told us you were powerless. Why would anyone reward that with more power? Why would anyone think that's a good idea?
It was also interesting to hear Rob Reich talking about whether this was 1994 and Clinton or 1936 and FDR on the radio the other day.  Reich says Obama needs to look at how FDR rolled if he wants to get reelected, and I think he's right. 

The piece also played a great clip from a 1936 speech that FDR made that I had astonishingly never heard before.  The choice bits are below, you can read the prepared text and listen to the whole thing at UVA's archive site.



Reminds a bit of another favorite speech of mine.

(First Draft rant via Dependable Erection)

Go Deep

I was just going to put this link on twitter but it's over capacity, and while the birds lifting the whale is kind of a cute graphic, I don't feel like waiting around for them to get their act together this morning.

Instead I'll tell everyone here that Design Boom has a great set of pics from The Underbelly Project which got a nice mention in the NYT earlier in the week but with less art.

'the underbelly project' by workhorse and PAC
(above) by boxi and ethos
image © luna park
Lots more to see if you click through.

There's probably an interesting reflection to the relative merits of sharing via blog or twitter and how down interfaces affect the relationship buried in all of this...

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Best Headline Ever

Area Man Passionate Defender Of What He Imagines Constitution To Be

The article isn't bad either.

(via EESK)

What A Wreck

Check out this awesome boat...


The awesomeness level is increased with the knowledge that it's a sculpture, and that it moves along like a boat.  It's called love love and you can get the details, including a video on artist Julien Berthier's site.

A little Captain Jack Sparrowish no... (and I can't find a video of him stepping onto the dock as the raft sinks, so use your imagination)

(via RC)

And Maybe We Shouldn't Let Everyone Vote

I'm actually not going to make that argument, I'm a pretty staunch advocate of fuller and more direct democracy (at least in theory).  That said this recent piece of polling from Bloomberg is just another reason to not be surprised with the outcomes of American elections.  In short most voters are stupid and highly uninformed...

52-19 likely voters told Bloomberg that income taxes had gone up for the middle class under the Obama Administration.

And yet...

The Obama administration has cut taxes -- largely for the middle class -- by $240 billion since taking office on Jan. 20, 2009. A program aimed at families earning less than $150,000 that was contained in the stimulus package lowered the burden for 95 percent of working Americans by $116 billion, or about $400 per year for individuals and $800 for married couples. Other measures include breaks for college education, moderate- income families and the unemployed and incentives to promote renewable energy. 
That's a pretty unflattering piece of info right there.

(via HTWW)

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Voting

I voted last week, and it was terrific.  North Carolina allows people to vote early for most of October, it's a chance to avoid the hassle and crowds that often accompany election day.  And while I didn't take advantage of it, early voting is when you can register and vote in one fell swoop in NC.

If you haven't voted yet go do it, and if you're in North Carolina keep this in mind when you're filling in your ovals...

via the Indy




Elaine Marshall on the other hand is a pretty accomplished lady, she got my vote.