December 2008
23 posts
Regarding yesterday’s spirited references to...
“Democrats, who speak passionately about the hungry and homeless, personally fork...”
– Nicholas D. Kristof, in Bleeding Heart Tightwads. Kristoff notes charitable-giving research supports Arthur Brooks’ conclusion that liberals are less wiling to put their money where their mouths are. Unsurprisingly, each party’s religious out-give secular fellows; and disproportionately...
“I don’t understand closure…That word never resonated with me. The epiphany...”
– William Shatner, working actor, vlogger and first-rate codger; in a past Details Q&A.
Please enjoy, fashionably late, Christmas In New...
“Strip shows are to gender what minstrel shows are to race.”
– Randy Cohen, The Ethicist: The Dirty Professor
Annie Leibovitz On 'Celebrity' [Time Magazine Q&A]
Reader: Why do you continue to do celebrity portraits when many of them have their photographs plastered all over?
Leibovitz: I've never liked the word celebrity. I like to photograph people who are good at what they do. I think the real problem today is, the Internet has created the demand for so much more information that we need to almost drum up more celebrities. We've run out, and now what we're doing is, we're making them up.
Link: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1862461,00.html
Human Scentuality →
cbeth surveyed us: “Do you wear cologne/perfume every day?” adding,
Apparently, this is the norm. My co-workers all do, and they all were surprised to hear that I don’t. I think it’s ridiculous, personally. I smell fine [right?].
During my winter vacation, I’m exclusively sporting a home-made cologne, yesterday’s stank, well into the afternoons. Normally, I’ve...
Visual Search
continuations:
recently wrote that the reason we can now get some real AI results is that we have a large body of data available. One area in which this applies is visual search. There are already some fantastic examples of what can be done with a large number of images in the work that has been done on pulling images from Flickr to assemble detailed views. There are also a couple of ...
Fed Sets Record Low Range for Benchmark Interest...
soupsoup:
The Federal Reserve entered a new era on Tuesday, reducing its benchmark interest rate so low that it will have to reach for new and untested tools in fighting both the recession and downward pressure on consumer prices. The central bank lowered its target for the overnight federal funds rate to a range of 0 to 0.25 percent, a record low, virtually bringing the United States to the...
“Minnesotans aren’t used to Latin Americans.”
– Joel Klein, speculating election officials may have misinterpreted dual surnames of Latinos, such as that of state Democratic Latino Caucus Chair, Erick Garcia Luna, leading to inappropriately rejected ballots, and hurting Franken’s count. [from And the Winner Is…]
Outliers [And Research-By-Wikipedia]
karmcity: ”just finished Malcolm Gladwell’s fairly disappointing Outliers,” and was
shocked to discover at least two Wikipedia references in the bibliography, as well as several Slate and Salon articles. While I’m a huge proponent of Wikipedia, using it as a basis for an argument is something that not even high school teachers allow…
In fairness, Gladwell’s bibliography...
Patrick Fitzgerald, Slow Your Roll
US Attorney Fitzgerald was treated to a somewhat rare, bipartisan pile-on courtesy of the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, with each publishing opinions calling for rhetorical restraint. The Times, specifically, notes:
[T]he United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, has a local rule mandating that a “lawyer shall not make an extrajudicial statement the lawyer...
Universal Muscles Redbox Over $1 DVD-Rental Kiosks →
Universal is bullying Redbox - provider of 12,000 $1 DVD-rental kiosks - threatening to withhold supply unless Redbox concedes to most of:
limiting the number of copies of hot titles per kiosk (to 8, from dozens)
sharing revenue with the studio (many brick-and-mortar shops do)
delaying availability of titles 45 days from their “for-sale” release
In other words, Universal wants to...
Bailing Out Everything On Wheels...
With domestic attention focused on the agreement-in-principle to bailout GM and Chrysler; a critical international economic story gets short shrift. Italy, fresh out of the Venetian bath, is bailing out Parmigiano cheese!
In an effort to help producers of the cheese commonly grated over spaghetti, fettuccine and other pastas, the Italian government is buying 100,000 [77 pound!] wheels of...
Illinois: Corrupt Governors More Common Than Not
A little Wikipedia surfing to find out more about this Governor, the mere pronunciation of whose name stirs controversy, led me to find that Illinois has saddled itself with shady executives for decades running:
The Allegedly-Dishonorable, Incumbent Milorad “Rod” R. Blagojevich was arrested today for crimes US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald (yes, him) termed “the most staggering crime spree in...
“It’s people like you who are causing the second Great Depression. Too many...”
– John Carney on Caroline’s no-shopping streak.
The Economist just ran The Teetotallers’ Hangover, on the counter-intuitive surplus woes of Japan and Germany; “two big and rich countries that did not succumb to the boom’s vices, but are nevertheless facing nasty recessions.”
...
On Being "Ladylike"
mandalay:
It’s a funny thing, being ladylike. Some things are obvious and are simply good manners: the art of polite conversation, no pantylines or noticeable bra straps, sitting with your legs closed (duh), perfect table manners, etc. Others are confusing: why can’t I put on lipstick in public? Is that somehow offensive? My mother thinks that drinking beer is not ladylike, and is mortified when...
WatchMSNBC has kindly animated our national workforce’s misery with this interactive, state-by-state unemployment map covering roughly the last year’s monthly data. [Full-size here with accouterments.]
While this data is likely subject to the usual measurement inconsistencies, it indicates the regional and national trends. You can dig deeper by going directly to today’s Bureau of...
WatchCounseling a friend losing interest in his field a semester away from his second, consecutive engineering master’s degree - ugh! - I half-seriously recommended staying in school, but reverting to hobbyist, undergrad programs and rejoining campus lush life four years removed.
I cited Johnny Lechner as an example. This first-rate academic loiterer, described by Paula Zahn as ”the most...
“No matter how hard it tries, business can never escape the fact that it is the...”
– Philip Delves Broughton, Ahead of the Curve: Two Years at Harvard Business School, introducing the section on HBS alumnus Jeff Skilling.
Women Still A Business School Minority
Julia Allison, writing about the below, is “not surprised it wasn’t 50/50, but … wow. 36%?? That’s ridiculous!”
She specifically cites Stanford GSB’s MBA class profile, but their ratio’s typical of business school averages - approximately one third female. This begs raises the question: what about this is ‘ridiculous?’ Since Julia didn’t elaborate, I...