November 2008
26 posts
Why YouTube should support Creative Commons now →
[via]
“Subjecting the president’s communications to eventual public review...”
– Bruce Schneier, The Future of Ephemeral Conversation
Q&A: [Local] Honey for allergies? →
Consumer Reports Health Blog: “the one clinical trial we could find showed that honey didn’t protect against allergies any better than a placebo” [via]
Images of Coney Island's Astroland as it is... →
[via]
Kerry pushes high-speed rail →
“The bill would provide money for tax-exempt bonds to finance rail projects which reach a speed of at least 110 miles per hour. It would include $10 billion over 10 years to fund improvements in the Northeast and California, and $5.4 billion over a six-year period for 10 rail corridors, including connecting the cities of the Midwest through Chicago, connecting the cities of the Northwest,...
Frozen Scandal →
On how scandals unfold without closure and what that might mean about journalists, politicians, and citizens. “Scandal is our growth industry. Revelation of wrongdoing leads not to definitive investigation, punishment, and expiation but to more scandal. Permanent scandal. Frozen scandal.” [via]
Obama on Flickr
The Obama campaign has had a Flickr account for quite a while. Now, the transition has a Flickr account of its own (found via this post at change.gov). It makes sense to separate the campaign from the transition with a different account.
Of note about the transition account:
The photos in this account are marked All Rights Reserved while the campaign’s photos are licensed with a...
For Sale: 200,000-Square-Foot Box: What happens to... →
Slide show of abandoned big box stores that have been converted for other uses. Shows everything from indoor flea markets to churches to go-kart tracks. [via]
When the Train Is Too Crowded to Board →
“The three Lexington Avenue subway lines — the Nos. 4, 5 and 6 — have gotten so crowded that riders are routinely stranded on the platforms during peak periods, unable to board the cars, according to a report released on Wednesday by the office of City Councilman Daniel R. Garodnick, who represents parts of the Upper East Side.”
Southwest Airlines to buy ATA to get New York... →
“The deal…would give Southwest the control of 14 takeoff and landing slots, sufficient to operate seven round-trip flights a day…. While Southwest has operated on Long Island out of Islip, N.Y., since 1999, it has bypassed the three major New York-area airports, LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark.” [via]
“He was the architect, advocate and the most knowledgeable person in Congress on...”
– Michael D. Donovan, former lawyer for the SEC, in Deregulator Looks Back, Unswayed (part of The Reckoning series)
Depression 2009: What would it look like? →
“Lines at the ER, a television boom, emptying suburbs. A catastrophic economic downturn would feel nothing like the last one.” [via]
Net Neutrality Advocates In Charge Of Obama Team... →
“The Obama-Biden transition team on Friday named two long-time net neutrality advocates to head up its Federal Communications Commission Review team…. The choice of the duo strongly signals an entirely different approach to the incumbent-friendly telecom policymaking that’s characterized most of the past eight-years at the FCC.” [via]
WatchVideo from Pulse Park art installation in Madison Square Park until November 17th; more videos and photos
This Old House: The Brooklyn House Project →
“For the first time in its three-decade history, This Old House TV is taking on a renovation in New York City…. The project is the conversion of a 104-year-old rowhouse in the Brooklyn’s historic Prospect Heights neighborhood—from a nine-room boarding house to a three-family home…” I have not watched This Old House in years, but I will tune in to catch their Brooklyn...
“You can’t sell anyone an investment they can’t reasonably be expected to...”
– Tim Bray’s proposed new rules for the financial industry in On Regulation
“Doing 4% less may very well get you 95% less…. ¶ Big organizations have...”
– Seth Godin, The sad lie of mediocrity
“Because of their difficulties with reading and writing, they were forced to...”
– Malcolm Gladwell, The Uses of Adversity
“If the good guys can’t even participate, the bad guys will always win.”
– Bruce Schneier on ethical hacking and security research, The Ill Effects of Banning Security Research
FCC Approves Google-Backed Plan to Free TV... →
“The proposal, approved 5-0 today by the Federal Communications Commission, would let unlicensed devices use the vacant channels, known as white spaces, if they come equipped with anti-interference technology.” [via]
isobamapresident.com →
as of 9:16 PM ET, it reads “almost” [via]
Hints of Comeback for Nation’s First Superhighway →
An article on shipping goods via the Erie Canal rather than truck or train: “The canal still remains the most fuel-efficient way to ship goods between the East Coast and the upper Midwest. One gallon of diesel pulls one ton of cargo 59 miles by truck, 202 miles by train and 514 miles by canal barge…. A single barge can carry 3,000 tons, enough to replace 100 trucks.” [via]
From Midwest to M.T.A., Pain From Global Gamble →
The excellent New York Times series on the financial crisis, The Reckoning, continutes with a piece that puts the spotlight on a school-district investment strategy to illustrate how the implosion of an abstract financial scheme is hitting home.
The schools’ $200 million was actually used as collateral for a complicated form of insurance guaranteeing about $20 billion of corporate bonds. That...
With Ambitious Campaign, Obama Is Both Big Spender... →
“The Obama campaign’s rules for limiting expenses are strict. Workers at the Chicago headquarters are reimbursed for trips to the airport only if they take public transportation. Staff members on the road receive a $30 per diem for meals, compared with $40 for members of the McCain campaign. In the primaries, the Obama campaign required workers to drive if they were going somewhere less than...