Monthly Archives: January 2010

Up the creek without an iPaddle

In response to Dave‘s Reading tea leaves in advance of Apple’s announcements, I added this comment: Steve loves to uncork constipated categories with the world’s slickest laxative. So I’m guessing this new box will expand Apple’s retail shelf space to … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Gear, News, Quote, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 29 Comments

Hospitality story

We tested Santa Barbara before moving there, by taking a small apartment near the beach. The apartment was at the uphill (northwest) end of Burton Circle, on Natoma (a paved tangent of Burton’s circle), on the second floor of the … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Life, Photography, Places, Travel | Leave a comment

Passive Assistance

Four more of my aerial photos now illustrate their subjects in Wikipedia: Nebraska National Forest and the nearby town of Thedford, both in the Sand Hills region; and Morgan Hill and Dunaliella Salina (a micro algae that colors salt ponds, … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Geology, Photography, Places, Technology, Travel | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

GTFO

Anybody who refuses to leave a mudslide evacuation area needs to watch this video: [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/W4KWxglDL3o” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] It’s a live recording of the slide that killed ten people in LaConchita, California, on January 10, 2005. We know … Continue reading

Posted in Geology, Life, News, Past, Photography, Places, problems, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Los Angeles vs. Nature

John McPhee is the best nonfiction writer alive. My opinion, of course. But I happen to be right. Nobody describes anything better. No writer does a better job of digging into subjects most would find dull (rocks, pine barrens, river … Continue reading

Posted in Geology, Past, Places, Science, Travel | 12 Comments

Wintry mixing

I grew up on our town’s best hill for sledding. After a good snowfall, the town would sometimes block the steet so kids from all over could ride down the hill. The top was steep, but there was a long … Continue reading

Posted in Life, Photography, Sports, Travel | 2 Comments

What’s wrong with this picture?

Why is Steve Jobs taller than Eric Schmidt in this picture? I’ve met both guys, and I’m sure Eric is taller than Steve. But maybe I’m wrong. I’m having trouble (must be my night for that) finding believable height information … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Business, Journalism, News | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Can we have some first sources, please?

One of the things that drives me nuts about stories on the Web is absent links to first sources. Two examples: this piece by Nate anderson in Ars Technica and this one by Greg Sandoval in BX.BusinessWeek Cnet.* Both report … Continue reading

Posted in Blogging, Journalism, News, problems | 15 Comments

How the Internet becomes the Content-o-net

The Cinternet is Donnie Hao Dong’s name for the Chinese Internet. Donnie studies and teaches law in China and is also a fellow here at Harvard’s Berkman Center. As Donnie sees (and draws) it, the Cinternet is an increasingly restricted … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Business, Future, infrastructure, Journalism, music, News, Places, Politics, problems, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

On the Continuing End of Business as Usual

How’s this for coincidence: I’m sitting here reading Cory Doctorow‘s book Content: Selected Essays on Technology, Creativity, copyright and the Future of the Future when I pause to check Twitter for a message I’m expecting, and see a tweet pointing … Continue reading

Posted in Cluetrain, Ideas, Journalism, Technology | 3 Comments