March 2009
14 posts
"Let's start by burning all the textbooks"
Paper textbooks are problematic in two ways: First, they’re paper. Second, they’re textbooks. … But the worst thing about textbooks is that they’ve evolved into bland, unreadable products of interest group politics. Schools are trying to teach students to be literate, and to develop an ear for good language, then we force-feed them these hideous textbooks, which tend to be...
Phillip Greenspun says, “We (the taxpayers) own AIG. We should fire the top 20 managers immediately as an example to the rest. They should be replaced with people who have never been employed by AIG… Is it risky to replace the top management of a company? We voters do it every 4-8 years for the U.S. government, a vastly more complex operation than AIG.” I’ve been...
Watch
FTC vs DRM
A couple great lines regarding DRM from Ars Technica’s coverage of the FTC’s DRM Conference in Seattle:
“If your advertising giveth and your EULA taketh away,” [Mary Engle, an FTC Acting Deputy Director] said, “don’t be surprised if the FTC comes calling.”
She stressed that it was not permissible for companies to play Lucy to consumers’ Charlie...
This is the most depressing thing you will ever read. I promise.
Playing Chicken
“You three faggots are going on stage, and you three faggots aren’t going to stop me!” — Mickey Mouse
South Park has figured out how to say whatever the hell they want.
The latest episode features Mickey — not a thinly veiled facsimile, but Mickey Goddamned Mouse — cursing and threatening the Jonas Bros with a chainsaw, and gloating about the sexual exploitation of preteen...
“It’s obviously an attempt to explain the T-shirt.” That’s one...”
– Steven Soderberg
Palinized
During the 2008 election, I explained my obsession with Sarah Palin thusly: She is the avatar of this decade. She’s the omega point of a trend that began eight years ago with Paris Hilton. All the stupidity and mayhem of this era is finally personified in this soccer mom (oh, sorry, hockey mom).
I think Charles Muede of the Stranger is thinking along similar lines. There’s been a lot...
Kindle for iPhone
I’ve had a chance to play with the new Kindle app, and read a few reviews. Consensus is that the swipe-page turn is dumb and needs to be replaced with tapping. Lack of ability to buy books through app or iPhone-optimized Safari is silly but hardly a deal-breaker. It all feels a little underwhelming, but I don’t have many books on my immediate reading list that aren’t already here...
