Les Pensées de Ed

"…there is nothing more sacrosanct, more vital to our intellectual and emotional well-being,..."

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:02:19 -0500

“…there is nothing more sacrosanct, more vital to our intellectual and emotional well-being, than writing time. But we writers have a secret. We don’t spend much time writing.”

- The Truth About Writers (LA Times)

Chiddy Bang - Kids (MGMT Remix). Totally digging this track.

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:06:43 -0500

Chiddy Bang - Kids (MGMT Remix). Totally digging this track.

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-6-28)

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 06:04:16 -0500

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-6-28):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

Twenty-Four Reasons Why We Love Texas

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:55:00 -0500

Twenty-Four Reasons Why We Love Texas

I think it must be customary now for the keynote at the...

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 09:23:13 -0500

I think it must be customary now for the keynote at the Correspondents’ Dinner to be a current or former Daily Show contributor. Hodgman, as usual, is quite witty.

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-6-21)

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 06:35:42 -0500

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-6-21):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

American Express uses AJAX for their address change form. Too...

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:43:37 -0500

American Express uses AJAX for their address change form. Too bad it totally failed.

News Sources

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:43:00 -0500

This article from a Harvard Journalism prof, “Iran: News Happens, But Fewer Journalists Are There to Report It”, goes on to say, “In a time of global engagement—economic, political, environmental, energy and health, to name a few—budget cuts at news organizations severely limit foreign news coverage.”

Yet, in the New York Times: “Jason Jones, a correspondent for “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” will be filing dispatches from a slightly less hospitable setting: Iran.”

The Daily Show really is out-doing traditional media. Fortunately Daily Show viewers, according to a Pew Research study, are the most knowledgable on current and international affairs.

"A critical network upgrade must be performed to ensure continued operation of Twitter. In..."

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:26:12 -0500

“A critical network upgrade must be performed to ensure continued operation of Twitter. In coordination with Twitter, our network host had planned this upgrade for tonight. However, our network partners at NTT America recognize the role Twitter is currently playing as an important communication tool in Iran. Tonight’s planned maintenance has been rescheduled to tomorrow between 2-3p PST (1:30a in Iran).”

- Twitter Blog: Down Time Rescheduled — Who knew Twitter was so essential?

"Perhaps you’re one of the many people eager to know more about me. The real me that I strive to keep..."

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:10:57 -0500

“Perhaps you’re one of the many people eager to know more about me. The real me that I strive to keep hidden. If so, you can learn all you want simply by decoding the nonverbal and often unconscious messages I send. For instance, if you see me lift my eyebrows, it means I’m curious about something.”

- Read My Body Language by Ralph Gamelli (via TMN)

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-6-14)

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 10:22:25 -0500

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-6-14):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

Texas Constable uses a taser on a 72-year old woman. Absolutely...

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 15:32:51 -0500

Texas Constable uses a taser on a 72-year old woman. Absolutely unacceptable. And the cop, according to the AP, was a taser instructor. This woman was causing no threat to the officer, and the idea of tasering someone for their own protection is laughable.

Defend New Orleans on The Daily Show

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:51:09 -0500

Defend New Orleans on The Daily Show

"Consumers who have questioned whether it is worth spending $1,000 a square foot for a home are now..."

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:46:22 -0500

“Consumers who have questioned whether it is worth spending $1,000 a square foot for a home are now asking whether it is worth spending $1,000 a week to send their kids to college. There is a growing sense among the public that higher education might be overpriced and under-delivering.”

- Will Higher Education Be the Next Bubble to Burst? - Chronicle.com

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-6-7)

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 11:56:21 -0500

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-6-7):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz

"I hereby nominate the song “Viva La Vida” for song of the year. Now, I know if I’m one of the..."

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 15:42:39 -0500

“I hereby nominate the song “Viva La Vida” for song of the year. Now, I know if I’m one of the cognoscenti, I’m not even supposed to like Coldplay, let alone this most popular of popular songs, but I love it.”

- Jean Kazez (The Philosophers’ Magazine, via The Morning News - “A philosopher’s dirty secret love”)

The Old Library Revisited II (via Erik)

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 12:29:57 -0500

The Old Library Revisited II (via Erik)

Multiverse theory by Dr. Michio Kaku (via emilystu)

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 11:13:05 -0500

Multiverse theory by Dr. Michio Kaku (via emilystu )

What books do people proselytize about?

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:06:24 -0500

I Foody: What are some books that people are particularly likely to be assholes about? There are some books like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and The Fountainhead that people tend to be assholes about. Treating the books like arguments for a particular policy, philosophy, or way of being. The Alchemist is another one, even books by Daniel Quinn could qualify. It isn't so much about the quality of the books as it is about the way people interface with the books. Oh, and just to be clear I'd like to confine things to books that are marketed as fiction. No holy texts or self help books please.

captainawesome: Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead have been mentioned, but I gotta nth them - they're the best example of this I've ever seen. Otherwise reasonable, empathetic people read Rand and temporarily become raging assholes. College students are the key demographic here; I saw it a bunch of times in my midwest university. Sadly, I too fell victim to this for a while. But in high school, which makes me cooler than the college losers. Ha!

mkultra: Your characterizing this intention as the reader being an "asshole" about it is totally unfair. Though I am, I confess, often overcome by an uncontrollable urge to slap any twentysomethings I see reading Ayn Rand.

Netzapper: The part you're missing is that Ayn Rand's books forward a decidedly assholish philosophy, one that most people feel a little guilty for subscribing to. As a result, the Ayn Rand fans seek constant affirmation from everybody around them. In order for an objectivist not to feel like a jerk, she needs everybody else to be an objectivist too.

Source: http://ask.metafilter.com/123662/What-books-do-people-proselytize-about

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-5-31)

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:33:56 -0500

My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2009-5-31):

Imported from Last.fm Tumblr by JoeLaz