dangerousmeta!

NY Times: He knew the risks.

2009-07-09T22:13:16-07:00

John Bachar, Rock Climber, Dies at 51. “To critics, Bachar cut a stubborn, self-righteous figure, uncompromising on matters of daring style and minimal gear. To admirers, he represented the vanishing purity of a simpler age, a time when rocks and mountains were to be ascended only from the ground up, without advance rigging. For about half a decade at his prime, Bachar enjoyed a reputation comparable only to that of Royal Robbins in the 1950s.”

(Via Sam DeVore, through Facebook.)

You couldn’t wait just five minutes.

2009-07-09T19:57:16-07:00

Three idiots in SUVs couldn’t stand to drive slowly behind the truck painting new lines on our repaved roadway, so they drove over the paint, spreading it across the road, and passed the paint truck. Now I get to look out my window and see yellow slashes across the road for the rest of the summer.

My inner curmudgeon blames it on the ‘me firsters’, the selfish public behavior birthed by the ‘Boomers’ in the ‘60’s.

Web Design Ledger: Good quality free fonts.

2009-07-09T19:14:49-07:00

17 Remarkably Professional Looking Free Fonts. Because we always need a few more fonts to clutter up our fonts folders, don’t we?

Focus.com: I’m a lumberjack and I know which end of the axe to use.

2009-07-09T18:55:57-07:00

20 Business Lessons Learned from Monty Python. “In the business marketplace, you will run across players that are far less savvy and sophisticated than you. So long as appropriate business ethics are followed, it’s quite acceptable to crush them with the force of a 16 ton weight.”

Newsweek: Crytomnesia epidemics.

2009-07-09T14:18:00-07:00

Is Unconscious Plagiarism a Real Phenomenon? “… could some alleged plagiarists—like Maureen Dowd, Chris Anderson, Elizabeth Hasselbeck, and even Viswanathan, who all either deny the charge, or blame their copying on unconscious mistakes—be guilty of psychological sloppiness rather than fraud?” In snippets, varying widely across plagiarized sources, I’d say yes. Wholesale paragraphs, or consistently from one source ... no.

LA Times: Having a compelling story to tell, is a good first step.

2009-07-09T14:14:01-07:00

3-D starting to look flat at the box office. “Nonetheless, as an apples-to-apples comparison, the decline in 3-D’s advantage is significant and curious. It’s partially due, no doubt, to the rising number of theaters equipped with 3-D screens.” This is why ‘Ratatouille’ kicked butt. There was a strong storyline to follow. Still, how many bouncing 3D animals can one stomach?

Bloomberg: Armstrong gets some Hirst bling for the TdF.

2009-07-09T14:12:00-07:00

Armstrong Gets Tour de France Bike Designed by Hirst. Shiny.

PDNPulse: It amazes me anyone thinks they can get away with this.

2009-07-09T12:48:01-07:00

PDNPulse: New York Times Magazine Withdraws Altered Photo Essay. “A reader, however, discovered on close examination that one of the pictures was digitally altered, apparently for aesthetic reasons. Editors later confronted the photographer and determined that most of the images did not wholly reflect the reality they purported to show.” Virtually everyone understands what Photoshop does now, and what the signs of alteration are.

BBC: Moai medicinals.

2009-07-09T00:21:53-07:00

Tests raise life extension hopes. “When US scientists treated old mice with rapamycin it extended their expected lifespan by up to 38%.”

Fire update.

2009-07-08T23:23:58-07:00

Apparently this fire’s been around for a while, and is being managed as a ‘prescribed burn.’ From the flareup today, I wonder. Here’s the associated story.

Fire!

2009-07-08T22:18:32-07:00

Here’s a pic, 5:00 PM:

Fire near Cochiti.

2009-07-08T22:08:52-07:00

From my driveway, looking west, there’s a huge column of smoke over a ridge just before the Jemez mountain heights, probably near the Cochiti area, and it looks like a large fire. Started about an hour or so ago.

Washington Post: Good grief.

2009-07-08T13:02:00-07:00

The Palin Sympathy Effect. The only truly newsworthy thing she’s done since the election has been to resign the governorship. Her pull (dare I say gravitas?) is being created by the media, and not some mysterious group of supporters. One has to wonder why they’re bothering.

LA Times: Internet radio will survive.

2009-07-08T12:48:44-07:00

Internet radio sites, music industry reach agreement over royalties. “The music won’t stop for Internet radio after a group of webcasters struck an agreement with SoundExchange, the organization that collects royalties for musicians and record companies, over payments for playing music online.” Looks like Pandora will have to start charging after 40 hours of play, but the cost is minimal.

New Scientist: Better to be wanderers?

2009-07-08T12:45:34-07:00

Winning the ultimate battle: How humans could end war. “War emerged when humans shifted from a nomadic existence to a settled one and was commonly tied to agriculture.” I think they miss the point. It’s the accumulation of goods that makes us selfish to the point of violence.

CNN: Thus he refutes greed.

2009-07-08T12:42:01-07:00

Pope blasts capitalism ahead of G-8 meeting. “Above all, the intention to do good must not be considered incompatible with the effective capacity to produce goods.”

Bloomberg: Little Steven lays it out.

2009-07-08T00:48:15-07:00

Springsteen’s Guitarist Steve Van Zandt Warns on State of Rock. “Rock and roll was white kids trying to make black music and failing, gloriously!”

Reuters: It’s all about your mattress, folks.

2009-07-07T20:38:00-07:00

Banks must brace for credit card pile-up. “As we race past the government’s worst assumptions, the risks mount that consumer distress will plunge the banks back into crisis. Despite recent rising profits, bankers will need to make sure that their seat belts are fully fastened for the turbulence ahead.” Stuff your mattress now.

NY Times: Results of “Time, Labor and Capital.”

2009-07-07T19:57:11-07:00

Accumulated, if Not Curated. “‘Another neighbor on the same block where I lived in Flatbush had this Jaguar,’ he said, hovering over a beautiful red sports car. ‘It’s an XK120. And he saw me — keep in mind, it’s 1968, so it’s only a 15-year-old car — so he saw me working on the other cars, and he said, ‘You know, this car has been sitting in my garage, I’m never going to get to it, you can have it.’”

Did MJ take down the internet?

2009-07-07T19:46:36-07:00

Comcast failed for about 20 minutes here, at 2:20 PM. Anyone else?