July 2009
66 posts
150 years of On Liberty →
“…John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty isn’t always convincing, but after 150 years it is still worth reading […] From The Philosophers’ Magazine, Jonathan Riley celebrates 150 years of J.S. Mill’s classic essay On Liberty with an overview of its central arguments.” (via book4m)
“Advertising is the price companies pay for being unoriginal.”
– Yves Behar (via nickzed)
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NEW YORK—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Jul. 23, 2009— The New York Times Company announced today second-quarter 2009 operating profit of $23.3 million compared with $40.3 million in the second quarter of 2008. Excluding depreciation, amortization, severance and a pension charge as noted below, operating profit was $66.1 million in the second quarter of 2009...
Stock Traders Find Speed Pays, in Milliseconds -... →
But as new marketplaces have emerged, PCs have been unable to compete with Wall Street’s computers. Powerful algorithms — “algos,” in industry parlance — execute millions of orders a second and scan dozens of public and private marketplaces simultaneously. They can spot trends before other investors can blink, changing orders and strategies within milliseconds.
High-frequency traders often...
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“We want to have a real positive impact on the world, and the only way to do that...”
– Biz Stone, co-founder of twitter, on doing good in the world v. making money (techcrunch)
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WatchVideo of Yesmoke’s cigarette factory. Reminds me of the Sesame Street video of how crayons are made (a classic) but with significantly fewer people present. See Also: video of Yesmoke testing the contents of their cigarettes. Mr. Rogers’ narrated video of a crayon factory (“Handfulls of yellow crayons.” … “Those crayons have lots of rides.”)...
The Billyburg Bust - NYMag →
A working-class neighborhood became a bohemian theme park, which in turn became a fantasyland for luxury-condo developers. Now, littered with half-built shells of a vanished boom, Williamsburg is looking like something else entirely: Miami.
Y1 is a strain of tobacco that was cross-bred by Brown & Williamson to obtain an unusually high nicotine content. It became controversial in the 1990s when the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) used it as evidence that tobacco companies were intentionally manipulating the nicotine content of cigarettes. (wikip)
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Gus Van Sant & David Foster Wallace Talk - Dazed... →
(talking about Good Will Hunting, specifically Will’s photographic memory)
GVS: And he had learned and he had become very advanced but that his memory was maybe separate — the memory was like the trick part. So he remembered certain things that he had read in different books his retention was so phenomenal but it was almost like a trick so when he is defeating the guy in the Harvard...
"You Know, Models Are In, Like, The Five Percent... →
Okay, but the money’s pretty awesome, right?
I fucking wish! I’m in this for the travel and the experience. I grew up poring over mags like The Face and Nylon at the library; how could I not be thrilled to meet designers, and see their collections months before the public? The jobs you hear about are the hundred-grand photo campaigns for Victoria’s Secret or million-dollar...
North Korea launches beer advertisement →
North Korea’s first TV beer commercial is set to be “the new look of Pyongyang”
You can find it here in a few places in Seoul. Surprisingly enough, it’s actually a really good beer. Paul, from Canada living in Seoul
I love the beer! I would have some every day if I can and I am glad to see it can be advertised. Elliot Dobie, Pyongyang, North Korea
read more reviews of...
Artists Find Backers as Labels Wane - NYTimes →
There was a time when most aspiring musicians had the same dream: to sign a deal with a major record label. Now, with the structure of the music business shifting radically, some industry iconoclasts are sidestepping the music giants and inventing new ways for artists to make and market their music — without ever signing a traditional recording contract. The latest effort comes from Brian...
Before College, Costly Advice Just on Getting In -... →
‘Admissions officers say that for many students, the advice of their high school counselors should suffice. Those applicants who might benefit from supplemental counseling — like those at urban high schools with overworked counselors — are often among the least able to afford such services. Regardless, colleges say parents should be wary of any counselor’s claim of being able to lobby for a...
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The Future of the Avatar - David Frey ("Google's... →
A series of self-help books will emerge that discuss “how we can improve our relationship with our avatars”, “how to keep our avatars from reproducing without our consent”, and “how to breed avatars for fun and profit”.
The Man Who Stole Michael Jackson's Face - David... →
The damnedest things are coming up for legal disposition these days. Astronomer Carl Sagan took issue with Apple Computer’s use of his name as the code word for a project in development - and when they changed the name of the project to “butthead astronomer,” he sent the lawyers around again, apparently seeking to defend his dignity. Onetime counterculture ironist par excellence...
Inside His Exteriors →
Another Ouroussoff article, this time about Toyo Ito (no, not Tadao Ando, silly.) (Photos of his White U House)
some links following the Metabolism Bldg train of...
another historical “structure” possibly “torn down”: “Hitler Tree” may face the axe in Polish town” (reuters) What’s in a name? NJ Star-Ledger reports on a family who named their child “Adolf Hitler Campbell.” The child has since been removed from the home (Includes a video of neighbors responses to the name).
ps - this tumblr skin...
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“The new building will increase floor area by 60 percent.”
– Yuki Solomon — regarding the aformentioned Nakagin Capsule Towers and describing the benefits to the buildings’ dwellers of demolishing this building. From Architecure Record, April 2007.
Future Vision Banished to the Past - Nicolai... →
“In theory, more capsules could be plugged in or removed whenever needed. The idea was to create a completely flexible system, one that could be adapted to the needs of a fast-paced, constantly changing society. The building became a symbol of Japan’s technological ambitions, as well as of the increasingly nomadic existence of the white-collar worker.”
This building is an historic...
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Autrefois - Pink Martini —feelin it.
quick work - bibio’s “all the...
A New Zealand man who claimed he was raped by a wombat and that the experience left him speaking with an Australian accent has been found guilty of wasting police time… Wombats are native to Australia and are not found in New Zealand. –“Man said ‘wombat rape’ led to accent change,” Nick Squires, The Telegraph
(via Harper’s)
