April 2009
51 posts
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More Atheists Shout It From the Rooftops -... →
They liken their strategy to that of the gay-rights movement, which lifted off when closeted members of a scorned minority decided to go public.
Not sure how I feel about organized atheism, but I think it’s important to come out of the closet. (HT Jacob.)
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New outgoing voicemail recording. Inspired by...
Skin Deep Usability →
First impressions after unboxing a Mircsoft Surface tabletop computer. It took four college-educated folks a half hour and a call to tech support to figure out where they had to plug in the power cord. (Via Gruber.)
Tweeting Too Hard →
“Where self-important tweets get the recognition they deserve.”
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NYT: Name Not on Our List? Change It, China Says →
Seeking to modernize its vast database on China’s 1.3 billion citizens, the government’s Public Security Bureau has been replacing the handwritten identity card that every Chinese must carry with a computer-readable one … The bureau’s computers, however, are programmed to read only 32,252 of the roughly 55,000 Chinese characters[.]
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Sunlight Foundation: True Washington Intrigue,... →
The juiciest part of the story — aside from the potential quid-pro-quo — is that, after being caught on an NSA wiretap, the Alberto Gonzales-led Justice Department dropped the probe in exchange for Rep. Harman’s strong support of the NSA warrentless wiretapping program.
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Thanks for the advice, Google. →
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“While we are eager to work cooperatively to improve any and all practices and...”
– Spokesman for PA Gov. Ed Rendell criticizing the auditor general for not consulting the governor before telling OMB that the state is not ready to keep track of recovery spending. And by “atmosphere of mutual respect” he means “in secret, behind closed doors.”
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My work was profiled on All Things Considered...
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Oprah’s First Words on Twitter: “HI TWITTERS” -... →
Oprah Winfrey made her first tweet a few minutes ago: “HI TWITTERS . THANK YOU FOR A WARM WELCOME. FEELING REALLY 21st CENTURY .”
The digerati will probably scream about all the Internet etiquette rules she broke. She used all capital letters, which typically indicates screaming.”
YES I AM SCREAMING ABOUT IT! ALSO: READ MY BLOG!
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“Whenever someone buys a Twitshirt, we set aside $0.50USD for the tweet’s...”
– Frequently Asked Questions —Twitshirt Not only do they steal, they can do math, AND they’re ungrammatical. Where do I sign up? Oh, wait.
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All You Do Is Bitch, Bitch, Bitch →
Is there a way on Tumblr to dislike something? Seriously, who’s in for a good ‘ol fashioned class-action lawsuit? Just because Creative Commons exists and its cool doesn’t mean my lame jokes are free.
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Pulp Browsers →
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America's Bad Jeans →
Sounds like George Will was wearing his Bad Idea Jeans when he wrote this column. (HT @kboreilly)
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Recently I asked for OpenRegs.com beta testers and a few of you responded via the Tumblr question field. Much to my chagrin, it doesn’t let me see your email address. So please write me again at jerry at brito dot com.
Twitter for Comments Hack
A couple weeks ago I mentioned that I was considering using Twitter for blog comments, and I pointed to Daniel Sandler’s experiment. I wanted something more lightweight than Disqus comments, and while I like Tumblr’s notes feature, not everyone has a Tumblr account. After giving it a bit of thought, I think I’ve figured out a system that works for me.
If you click through to...
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WatchJacek Utko asks, Can design save the newspaper?
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Would you like to beta test OpenRegs.com?
Let me know. We’d like to have a soft-launch in a week or so and could use your help kicking its tires and getting feedback on the interface, etc. Thanks!
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“Today is the day we celebrate the prosecution and successful conviction of false...”
– Gunnar Hellekson #TCOT
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Ethics and Blogging: Attribution where due | The... →
Ideas or seeds are the most often ignored form of attribution. Simply, if you’ve read a post about a topic on one blog, then are inspired to write in a similar vain, provide attribution at the end. For example (via Radio Free Blogistan) or (in part via Scripting News) if you want to be even safer, you can double refer or more
(ref: news.com via SMH
It’s only polite.
Do you read this blog using a reader or on the...
I’m curious. I’m also curious about Tumblr’s question feature.
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WatchHoly uncomfortableness. Watch the whole thing. Man that Canadian radio host shows restraint.
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Every Obama Administration Personal Financial... →
ProPublica went through the process of requesting all of the personal financial disclosures from the Obama administration and has posted them to their site. Recently the administration streamlined the process of requesting access to the financial disclosure forms. … And you can peruse the 179 Obama administration financial disclosures here.
I told you this was bound to happen.
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“Pope Admits Online News Can Provide Infallible Aid”
– NYTimes.com Reading my backlog of RSS feeds, I came across this, recipient of the award for best passive agressive F-U headline.
For Some, Voice Mail Is Losing Its Allure -... →
But in an age of instant information gratification, the burden of having to hit the playback button — or worse, dial in to a mailbox and enter a pass code — and sit through “ums” and “ahs” can seem too much to bear. Many dread the process or, like Mr. Hamrick, avoid it altogether, raising the question: is voice mail on its way to becoming obsolete?
A typically insufferable NYT trend piece, but...
WhiteHouse.gov: SF 278 Request Form →
The White House website has made available a form that allows you to request the financial disclosure forms of those required to file them in the executive branch. After you make your request, it is emailed to you as a PDF.
This is better than it used to be when you had to transact with the Office of Government Ethics by mail to get a copy. But I’m not sure why they don’t just...
Google Claims Orphan Books, Raising Alarm in... →
While the registry’s agreement with Google is not exclusive, the registry will be allowed to license to others only the books whose authors and publishers have explicitly authorized it. Since no such authorization is possible for orphan works, only Google would have access to them, so only Google could assemble a truly comprehensive book database.
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