tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-126521662024-03-13T20:52:38.009-07:00James Kew: LinkblogOther people's stuffJameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01502072746955166120noreply@blogger.comBlogger351125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12652166.post-63746657434747390912007-08-12T12:48:00.000-07:002007-08-12T12:48:56.379-07:00Netflix Community Blog: Todd Speaks: 1/2 StarsThe tyranny of choice in action on <a href="http://blog.netflix.com/2007/08/todd-speaks-12-stars.html">Netflix</a>: “when we make the ½ star options possible, we get fewer ratings. […] Our best guess is that the complexity of doubling the number of choices from 5 to 10 deters many people from rating, so they just give up.”Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01502072746955166120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12652166.post-1166926557589693562006-12-23T18:15:00.000-08:002006-12-24T09:12:29.546-08:00Scripting News: What to do?Three 3.5+ magnitude <a href="http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/nc51177121.php">earthquakes</a> in Berkeley in the last 3 days. We got a light rattling here, but Dave Winer’s on-the-spot <a href="http://www.scripting.com/2006/12/23.html#whatToDo">description</a> is a lot more evocative: “felt like a truck hitting the house […] quick but loud.” (But at the risk of sounding callous: if you hate quakes so much, why buy a house so close to the Hayward Fault?)Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01502072746955166120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12652166.post-1158454871351253262006-09-16T18:01:00.000-07:002006-09-16T18:01:11.456-07:00plasticbag.org: On the design of American State flagsTom Coates casts a quizzical eye on some of the <a href="http://www.plasticbag.org/archives/2006/08/on_the_design_of_american_state_flags/">state flags</a>: “the flag for Arkansas reminds me of the label of a sardine can.” Bonus link from the comments: Snopes’ “no, I meant a <i>pear</i>” <a href="http://www.snopes.com/lost/bearflag.asp">urban legend</a>. Believe them? <a href="http://www.snopes.com/lost/">Check here</a>.Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01502072746955166120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12652166.post-1158447255928516822006-09-16T15:54:00.000-07:002006-09-16T15:54:15.930-07:00Boing Boing: Amazon Unbox to customers: Eat shit and dieCory Doctorow dissects the <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2006/09/15/amazon_unbox_to_cust.html">Amazon Unbox user agreement</a>: “Amazon Unbox takes away your privacy and every conceivable consumer right you have, and then tells you that the goods you buy from them don’t belong to you, and they can take them away from you at any time, or change the deal you get from them without any appeal by you.” Even filtered through Doctorow’s evangelically anti-DRM stance, this is strong stuff.Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01502072746955166120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12652166.post-1158447052538512852006-09-16T15:50:00.000-07:002006-09-16T15:50:52.693-07:00Security Analysis of the Diebold AccuVote-TS Voting MachineThe <a href="http://itpolicy.princeton.edu/voting/">abstract</a> alone should scare the willies out of you; the <a href="http://itpolicy.princeton.edu/voting/ts-paper.pdf">full paper</a> just gets scarier and scarier. Election-stealing voting machine viruses: glub.Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01502072746955166120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12652166.post-1157436218475887902006-09-04T23:03:00.000-07:002006-09-04T23:03:38.950-07:00SFGate.com: New Stamps Misspell 'Motorcycle'USPS finds a <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/09/01/national/w094836D14.DTL">typo in a first-day cover postmark</a>. Response: “[buyers] can still order the version with the incorrect postmark”. Very clever: most collectors will want both versions.Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01502072746955166120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12652166.post-1156736696276885762006-08-27T20:44:00.000-07:002006-09-04T21:51:50.613-07:00Guardian Unlimited Books: Hoax love letter fools Betjeman biographerNicely done: <a href="http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,1859782,00.html">fake letter</a> contains coded insult to A.N. Wilson. (Update: <a href="http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,1864322,00.html">warring biographers</a>.)Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01502072746955166120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12652166.post-1155969688871051122006-08-18T23:41:00.001-07:002006-08-26T10:35:52.986-07:00Boing Boing: Animation historians blast SF Chron movie criticAnd on the subject of <i>Monster House</i>: the Chron's Mick LaSalle <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/07/21/DDGHTK1F471.DTL">doesn’t understand animation</a>; animators <a href="http://pidgeonblog.typepad.com/pidgeonblog/2006/07/my_email_to_mic.html">respond eloquently</a>. (via <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2006/07/31/animation_historians.html">Boing Boing</a>)Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01502072746955166120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12652166.post-1155969110807302882006-08-18T23:31:00.000-07:002007-03-20T18:47:30.183-07:00By Ken Levine: Pirates of the CaribbeanKen on the what-the-hell-was-all-that <a href="http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2006/07/pirates-of-caribbean.html"><i>Pirates</i> sequel</a>: “If only the movie was six minutes and the ride took two and a half hours.” (<i>Monster House</i> was a much better cartoon…)Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01502072746955166120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12652166.post-1155968578816252432006-08-18T23:22:00.000-07:002007-02-25T09:56:24.920-08:00Workbench: Finding Good Soundbites in Bad PodcastsRogers neatly <a href="http://www.cadenhead.org/workbench/news/2999/finding-good-soundbites-bad-podcasts">sums up</a> why I dislike podcasts: “Content that sucks in two dimensions. A bad podcast suffers both in quality and in the amount of time required to find this out. I could’ve back-buttoned 60 bad blog entries in the time I listened to one Gillmor Gang.” The comments and correction also identify another problem: sometimes it's hard to tell who’s speaking...Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01502072746955166120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12652166.post-1155875341007435892006-08-17T21:29:00.000-07:002006-08-18T18:57:50.033-07:00SFGate.com: 'Hybrid' Creature Is Just a DogSomehow this <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/08/17/national/a142507D53.DTL&">story</a> strongly reminds me of <a href="http://www.leagueofgentlemen.co.uk/newepisodelists1ep4.shtml">The League Of Gentlemen</a>: “Some form of monstrous basilisk, the like of which the world has never seen.” / “You haven’t seen a goat, a pig and a chimp anywhere?”Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01502072746955166120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12652166.post-1155527561473558752006-08-13T20:52:00.000-07:002006-08-16T11:18:09.870-07:00SFGate.com: RICE-A-REDUX / After a 7-year hiatus, it's billed once again as the San Francisco treat<a href="http://www.ricearoni.com/RAR_History/products.cfm">Rice-A-Roni</a> was traditionally “The San Francisco Treat”: <a href="http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mricearo.html">why</a>? The Chronicle on the possible <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/07/16/MNGTUK06P31.DTL">return of the slogan</a>; and asks “when was Rice-A-Roni ever the civic pride of San Francisco?”Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01502072746955166120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12652166.post-1155527209731930132006-08-13T20:46:00.000-07:002007-02-02T12:29:27.736-08:00Bay Area Bites: It's It: The San Francisco TreatBay Area Bites on the <a href="http://www.kqed.org/weblog/food/2006/08/its-it-san-francisco-treat.jsp">It’s It</a>. Yes, it really is that good. (Andronico’s now sell the mint ones as well as the traditional vanilla; both <em>very</em> good.) (Google has <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/08/i-scream-for-google-ice-cream.html">custom It’s-Its</a>.)Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01502072746955166120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12652166.post-1155425887334859832006-08-12T16:38:00.000-07:002006-08-12T16:38:07.356-07:00SFGate.com: Cougars rattle Rossmoor by going about their livesOld news, but I like the self-directed humor of one interviewee in <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/07/08/MNGP8JS3U41.DTL">this piece</a>: “Half the people here can’t see, the other half can’t hear, the rest can’t think.” (Somewhat sobering: most of the results returned from a Chronicle <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/qws/ff/qr?term=rossmoor&Submit=S&st=s">search for “rossmoor”</a> are obituaries.)Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01502072746955166120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12652166.post-1155425260742266592006-08-12T16:27:00.000-07:002006-08-12T16:27:40.790-07:00BBC NEWS: MP sorry for 'inbreeding' remarksNorfolk MP <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4781693.stm">suggests constituents are inbred</a>; an <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/partridge/life/iap_index.shtml">Alan Partridge</a> moment?Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01502072746955166120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12652166.post-1151553555649051892006-06-28T20:59:00.000-07:002006-06-28T20:59:15.746-07:00SFGate.com: 1,000 pet rodents euthanized; rat lovers furiousA <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/06/28/MNG7PJM0RJ20.DTL&feed=rss.news">sad story</a>, redeemed somewhat by the bizarre final paragraph: “He’s an intelligent man to talk to, but he smells like rat urine.” Well, nobody’s perfect.Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01502072746955166120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12652166.post-1150772733505769702006-06-19T20:05:00.000-07:002006-06-19T20:06:52.600-07:00Instructables: Always have Correct Change in your walletA vaguely appealing optimization, but surely pulling <a href="http://www.instructables.com/ex/i/716B973651031029AC23001143E7E506/?ALLSTEPS">one of these</a> out of your wallet would scream “NERD ALERT”? (via <a href="http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/06/make_a_correct_change_wallet.html">MAKE:Blog</a>)Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01502072746955166120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12652166.post-1150772491228253552006-06-19T20:01:00.000-07:002006-06-19T20:01:31.376-07:00Tea Leaves: The Soul of A New Machinepsu on <a href="http://www.tleaves.com/weblog/archives/000629.html"><i>The Soul of a New Machine</i></a>. I agree entirely—it’s a great, great book, and as much about the personalities (and the burnouts) as the technology. (“I have gone to live on a commune in Vermont and will deal in no unit of time shorter than a season.”)Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01502072746955166120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12652166.post-1150573743346564362006-06-17T12:49:00.000-07:002006-06-17T12:49:03.346-07:0037signals: Does this company respect me? Try the sticker test.“If there’s a sticker on the product, and it peels off cleanly, then they’re a respectful company.” Which neatly confirms what the music industry thinks of us: those god-awful tags along the top edges of CDs never peel off cleanly. (via <a href="http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000613.html">Coding Horror</a>)Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01502072746955166120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12652166.post-1150573468336641422006-06-17T12:44:00.000-07:002006-06-17T12:44:28.336-07:00Washington Post: Behind the Scenes at Disney WorldThe WP on Disney's behind-the-scenes tours. “Just remember, there are some hand gestures we don't do at Disney.” (via <a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2006/06/17/backstage_tours_of_w.html">BoingBoing</a>)Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01502072746955166120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12652166.post-1150573067406284802006-06-17T12:37:00.000-07:002006-06-17T12:37:47.406-07:00Guardian Unlimited Arts: 'It was complete, visceral excitement'The Guardian looks back on the Who's <i>Live At Leeds</i>: “the most explosive live album ever”.Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01502072746955166120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12652166.post-1150572675363956552006-06-17T12:31:00.000-07:002006-06-17T12:31:15.483-07:00rogerebert.com: Garfield: A Tail of Two KittiesIs Ebert losing it? On his TV show he often seems to wander into trivial non-sequiturs; and now <a href="http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060615/REVIEWS/60606005">this review</a> written entirely in Garfield’s voice? WTF, Roger? (Not that Roeper’s conservative misogyny is any better; does he inherit when Ebert checks out?)Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01502072746955166120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12652166.post-1148961662976223932006-05-29T20:53:00.000-07:002006-05-29T21:01:02.976-07:00A Whole Lotta Nothing: MyutterconfusionspaceI also like Matthew Haughey’s “get the hell off my lawn you crazy kids!” <a ref="http://a.wholelottanothing.org/2006/02/myutterconfusio.html">bafflement</a> at MySpace: “When you click from one [profile] to another to another, you are transported back to Geocities back before Yahoo bought it, flaming animated gifs and all. […] Apple has made the iPod the most popular music player on earth, but it’s clean as a whistle. How could the same people love their super sleek music player and also love the gaudy oversaturated flashing/pulsating monstrosity of their Myspace profile?”Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01502072746955166120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12652166.post-1148961019201826242006-05-29T20:50:00.000-07:002006-05-29T20:53:45.486-07:00Pete Ashton's Weblog: The Future of MusicPete on <a href="http://www.peteashton.com/06/05/27/the_future_of_music.html">MySpace and music</a>: “to understand its success you have to understand the appalling state of band websites. Invariably built in Flash they were impossible to navigate, obfuscated all the important information, were never updated and often made you register before you could hear any music. By contrast a MySpace music page has everything you need on one page—band members, influences, biography, tour dates and, most importantly, the actual music. You could cover it in shit and it would still be an improvement.”Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01502072746955166120noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12652166.post-1148846320945619902006-05-28T12:58:00.000-07:002006-05-28T12:58:41.033-07:00Foolish Vanity: The Royal WeeOn Windsor: “The castle looms over the town in a very regal way, and the rest of the town nestles around its feet like a brick and timber blanket.”Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01502072746955166120noreply@blogger.com0