February 2012
8 posts
5 tags
2 tags
“There is a graceful manner of holding a hat, which every well-bred man...”
– Martine’s Hand-Book of Etiquette,
and Guide to True Politeness
(via Kempt)
3 tags
3 tags
“A Pitchfork review may ignore history, aesthetics, or the basic technical...”
– Richard Beck, “5.4”
I don’t know if this is fair to Pitchfork or to indie rock - I suspect not - but it’s an interesting read, especially after Let’s Talk About Love.
4 tags
3 tags
Calvin Trillin: “President Romney Meets Other... →
“Congratulations,” President Romney said. “Lipstick contains a substance made from fish scales.”
3 tags
colleen-powers replied to your photo: Tomorrow night in Minneapolis an 8-piece band is…
Love it! Will the openers also be playing Jeff Mangum/NMH songs, or just your band?
As far as I know, only us. The upside of this is, you don’t have to listen to the same eleven songs over and over for four hours. On the downside, they’re pretty good songs.
6 tags
January 2012
26 posts
4 tags
5 tags
6 tags
“Add up the wealth of the last eight presidents, from Richard Nixon to Barack...”
– Connie Cass, “Romney would rank among richest presidents ever”
(via Ezra Klein)
4 tags
3 tags
“’Weird’ is the word I hear most from Republicans who have worked...”
– Robert Reich,
“Don’t wish for a Newt nomination”
6 tags
4 tags
3 tags
4 tags
5 tags
5 tags
3 tags
“There’s no indication that Apple was in a bidding war over Tim...”
– Matthew Yglesias, “Tim Cook’s Payday”
(via Ezra Klein)
Related: “Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory”, from This American Life.
4 tags
Demolition Looms for 'Blues Brothers' Mall →
The shopping mall that the Blues Brothers wrecked in 1979, immediately after it closed, is still standing. For another couple weeks.
5 tags
Supreme Court Gives the Go Ahead for... →
4 tags
2 tags
5 tags
5 tags
5 tags
2 tags
4 tags
6 tags
“I approached [“Treat Her Like a Lady”] with a textbook’s worth...”
– Carl Wilson, Let’s Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste, p. 141.
3 tags
“The greengrocer had to put the slogan in his window, therefore, not in the hope...”
– Vaclav Havel, “The Power of the Powerless”
5 tags
5 tags
For Their Own Good →
A historical perspective on Newt Gingrich’s embrace of child labor.
6 tags
The Rick Santorum that America doesn't know →
Will Bunch argues that Santorum’s “Google problem” is a diversion from real problems with his political career and personal ethics, of which he provides a guided tour. Among the least of his offenses: “a so-called ‘leadership PAC’ created by Santorum that was supposed to fund other Republicans instead seemed to mostly pay for the lifestyle of Santorum and those...
December 2011
26 posts
3 tags
“Ryan’s surgical approach may be the perfect fit, putting the country’s fiscal...”
– Tony Lee, on 2011 Human Events Conservative of the Year Paul Ryan. Check out those metaphors!
5 tags
Food drives: Charities need your money, not your... →
Matthew Yglesias: “In-kind donations still help, of course, and nobody’s turning away boxes of food. But a fundamental issue is that many organizations feel that asking for money—like requesting cash as a gift—seems somewhat gauche. So, let me be rude on their behalf: Find well-managed charities in your community and trust them to know how to do their job. They have access to food at a...
3 tags
5 tags
“Most human beings are complex and shaped by conflicting drives, defined by both...”
– Glenn Greenwald, “Christopher Hitchens and the protocol for public figure deaths”
3 tags
At Last, Nations Agree to Landmark Climate Deal →
When I was copying NPR’s headline, my phone decided I meant “At Least,” and that’s not so wrong. As far as I can tell, this is another “we agree that we will agree on something, later” deal. It’s not enough to avert catastrophe, but it’s more than anyone thought we would get this year. So, merry Christmas!
3 tags
5 tags
“[T]he basic problem with Washington’s conversation over debt is we’ve taken a...”
– Ezra Klein
3 tags
random thoughts on email filtering →
I ran across this a little while ago. It’s 17 years old today. I think I was pretty sharp, worrying about “filter bubbles” before Amazon, Google, or MySpace existed. Way to go, 1994 me.
5 tags
An Architecture Firm That Likes Its Urbanism... →
The lead sentence here is textbook: “Over a decade ago, Dwell published its first Modern Across America issue, devoted to discovering good design in unexpected places such as Milwaukee, Wisconsin or Louisville, Kentucky.” Unexpected by whom? And I like the word “discovering” - you know, like Columbus.
Anyway, aside from that it’s a pretty good article about Kansas...
4 tags
The Mini-States Of Cairo →
I don’t get all the jokes in Karim Shafei’s exegesis of Cairo, but the ones I get (via Global Voices Online) are pretty good: “In spite of the fact that the historical language of Cairo is Arabic, the language has evolved differently in each of Cairo’s mini-states to the point that it has become difficult for the residents of one mini-state to understand the residents of another....
6 tags
4 tags
Lowry Bridge Update–Work Must Continue →
Hennepin County has agreed to put bike lanes on the new Lowry Avenue Bridge but should go one step further and add “slip ramps,” so bikers who aren’t comfortable near 40+ mph traffic have a safe way to get on and off the adjacent sidewalk trail.
4 tags
“Cathy Wurzer: Swede Hollow was destroyed by fire. Looking at the pictures,...”
– MPR today has a short but striking slideshow on St. Paul’s Swede Hollow, once an immigrant community (Swedish, Irish, Italian, Mexican) and now a park.
4 tags
6 tags
10 Great Things about Sidewalks in the Wintertime →
Bill Lindeke: “When snow falls, driving sucks. Ice and snow might double or triple your daily commute. Thus winter, for most people, is a slow torture, stuck in traffic, wait for a car to warm up. Winter is like being trapped on a remote island, eternally scraping ice off your windshield like an Eskimo Sisyphus.
“Well, winter doesn’t have to be that way. If you’re...
4 tags
