September 2009
34 posts
1 tag
1 tag
is fasting for Yom Kippur. 21 hours to go and I’m already hungry. This will be a long one.
1 tag
1 tag
Corn and Crab Bisque →
I made the recipe for dinner Wednesday night. It was pretty simple, straightforward and, most importantly, very tasty. The kick from 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne was crucial, although that made the soup non-edible for Baby Xander. (We made a separate non-spicy version for him.) I didnt’t use fresh crab, but Boss’s canned crab meat upon the recommendation of the deli guy at Sunflower Farmers’ Market....
2 tags
The Unfortunate Sex Life of the Banana →
The banana, however, is a freakish and fragile genetic mutant; one that has survived through the centuries due to the sustained application of selective breeding by diligent humans. Indeed, the “miraculous” banana is far from being a no-strings-attached gift from nature. Its cheerful appearance hides a fatal flaw— one that threatens its proud place in the grocery basket. The banana’s problem can...
2 tags
2 tags
2 tags
What’s Driving the Trade Collapse? →
The measured trade-cost rise is estimated to be similar in the two events, yet tariffs have not risen in today’s crisis in anywhere near the extent to which they did in the 1930s. This seems to indicate that a good fraction of today’s trade drop is due to non-tariff trade policy and other trade frictions – e.g. evaporating trade credit, credit constraints in the market for consumer durables, and...
2 tags
Japanese Couples Rely on Fake Friends →
Japanese couples, too busy for a normal social life, are increasingly turning to actors to play their friends on the most important days of their lives.
Something has gone awry in Japan. If I didn’t have enough close friends to come to my wedding/funeral, I would seriously examine the priorities in my life rather than hiring a company to research me and send me fake friends.
4 tags
Ignite and APSA →
Henry Farrell draws some obvious contrasts between Ignite conferences and APSA (American Political Science Association) conferences:
Ignite gives you precisely (and only) five minutes to speak - your Powerpoint/Keynote or similar presentation has 20 slides that advance inexorably every fifteen seconds. What’s nice about it is that it forces people to cut to the chase.
I’ve only recently found...
2 tags
Are Good Manners Out of Style? →
The recent spates with Joe Wilson, Serena Williams and Kanye West left some people wondering if America lost its civility. If you enjoy pop culture or politics it may seem that way.
I try to have good manners—be polite, civil and friendly to both people I do not know as well as my friends and family members. I think it makes the world a better place and is important. [HT: MFM]
2 tags
Bill Clinton’s Unfinished Business →
I was struck throughout the conversation by the degree to which Clinton’s current projects seem informed by what he sees as the major mistakes of his presidency.
Keating of Foreign Policy argues that Bill Clinton is attempting to redress many parts of his administration’s policy failures through Clinton Global Initiative.
3 tags
United Korea Economy Could Pass Japan: Goldman... →
A united Korea — combining Asia’s fourth biggest economy with one of its poorest — could surpass that of Germany or Japan in economic might in the next 30-40 years, U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs said on Monday.
To the extent that this is true, the choices pose an interesting dilemma for the neighboring and other powers in the world: promote a divided Korea with...
1 tag
1 tag
1 tag
Why You Should Probably Use sRGB →
This is the best discussion of color spaces in digital photography that I have come across.
1 tag
When a Parent’s Love Comes With Conditions →
But the data suggest that love withdrawal isn’t particularly effective at getting compliance, much less at promoting moral development. Even if we did succeed in making children obey us, though — say, by using positive reinforcement — is obedience worth the possible long-term psychological harm? Should parental love be used as a tool for controlling children?
I hope I’m not withholding my love...
1 tag
2 tags
Prezi — Delivering Your Idea →
I’m highly intrigued by this new presentation tool/paradigm. It would need to come with a good presenter control interface to be most effective. [HT: ProfHacker]
“Chance a U.S. household that owns a Prius also owns an SUV: 1 in 3.”
– [via Marginal Revolution from Harper’s Index, October 2009; HT MFM]
1 tag
2 tags
WatchI walked/bussed to work this morning and had a chance to watch another TED talk. This is an absolutely amazing story of a little girl getting adopted from Korea. The photographer who facilitated the process in the late 1970s—Rick Smolan—is a great storyteller. Watch this instead of a sitcom episode.
2 tags
The Hunt for a Good Teacher →
I do have some students every semester that come up to me and tell me that they heard good things about my classes and/or my teaching and that’s why they signed up for my class. For what it’s worth I do always try to meet or exceed the expectations, with which those students enroll.
2 tags
2 tags
Widescreen viewing in Mail.app is back! Sort of…. →
Mac OS 10.6 (“Snow Leopard”) broke relatively a few things. Various Mail.app plug-ins constituted a big chunk of those broken things. MailAct-On was fine. MailTags got fixed quickly. Aaron Harnly released an ultra-beta 32-bit version of his wildly popular Letterbox plug-in today. Dane Harnett is working on updating the WideMail plug-in, which allows more fine-grained control over the display...
2 tags
1 tag
North Korea Opens Dam Flow, Sweeping Away 6 in the... →
Officials said the Imjin River’s water level on the border doubled, to 15.1 feet, after North Korea began releasing water without warning at 2 a.m. on Sunday, either from its newly built Hwanggang Dam 17 miles north of the border or from a smaller dam downstream.
There is a good chance, that the flooding was unintentional, given that the dam was newly built. North Korean obviously would not...
2 tags
2 tags
2 tags
1 tag
2 tags
1 tag
