Monthly Archives: September 2013

Today’s raw bibliography

If I had world enough and time, the Fargo outline below would turn into one of my (less than) daily outlines. Instead I’m publishing it in raw form: links alone. Trust me: they’re all worthwhile. And I like them better … Continue reading

Posted in Links | 4 Comments

Digging Hart Island, New York’s Million-Corpse Potter’s Field

A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization. — Samuel Johnson Visitors to New York’s Orchard Beach (at the top of the photo above) probably don’t know that the low wooded island offshore will, at the … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, Geography, history, infrastructure, Life, Links, Outline, Photography, Places, problems, Research, Strange stuff | 2 Comments

Daily Outline

History John Philip Sousa, “The Menace of Mechanical Music,” 1906, at ExplorePAhistory.com. Pull-quote: “The host of mechanical reproducing machines, in their mad desire to supply music for all occasions, are offering to supplant the illustrator in the class room, the … Continue reading

Posted in Links | 2 Comments

Frontiers of Planned Obsolesence

Our iPad was new in the summer of 2010: first generation. It was top-of-the-line, with 64Gb of storage and 3G connectivity. And it still works well. But the number of apps it runs is going steadily down. Here’s the current list: … Continue reading

Posted in Business, Personal, problems | 9 Comments

The American Way of Privacy

My sister Jan — student of history, Navy vet and a Wise One — sent me an email a couple days ago that I thought would make a good guest post. She said yes to that suggestion and here it … Continue reading

Posted in Future, Geography, history, Ideas, Internet, Politics, problems | 5 Comments

We know we’ve traded away privacy. But for exactly what security?

In Freedom and the Social Contract, Vint Cerf writes, The tension we feel between preserving privacy and a desire to be protected from harm feeds the debate about the extent to which we are willing to trade one for the other. Not everyone, … Continue reading

Posted in News | 3 Comments

Pirate radio lives, big time, in New York

Last Saturday evening I was walking up Wadsworth Avenue in Manhattan, a few blocks north of 181st Street, when I passed a group of people sitting sitting on the steps of an apartment building. They were talking, drinking, eating snacks … Continue reading

Posted in Broadcasting, Geography, infrastructure, Journalism, music, Places, Politics, problems, radio, Research | 2 Comments

Daily Outline

The Net Verizon’s diabolical plan to turn the Web into pay-per-view. By Bill Snyder in Infoworld. What Happened At The Network Neutrality Oral Argument? Bigger, Snarkier and Uncut. By Harold Feld in Wetmachine. Also: The short version at Public Knowledge. … Continue reading

Posted in Links | 1 Comment

Why we’ll win. All of us, that is.

JP Rangaswami, in On not collaborating: Ignore. Ridicule. Fight. Lose. That’s what happens to the institutions that seek to preserve the problems for which they were created. So it is with collaboration. We’ve heard the word many times. And we’ve seen … Continue reading

Posted in Business, infrastructure, Internet | 11 Comments

Now see these

40 Maps That Will Help You Make Sense of the World. In Twisted Sifter. My fave: That’s from Deadspin.

Posted in Art | Leave a comment