Matt Lehrer

"The Bush administration’s replacement of ‘timeline’ with ‘time horizon’ is..."

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:03:33 -0400

“The Bush administration’s replacement of ‘timeline’ with ‘time horizon’ is interesting when you consider the difference between a line and the horizon. A line is right where it is; the horizon moves away endlessly as you approach it. Sound familiar?”

- Steve Henry Herman in a letter to the editor of the New York Times.

Highlights of Al Gore’s Challenge to Repower America from...

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:53:07 -0400

Highlights of Al Gore’s Challenge to Repower America from July 17, 2008, via WeCanSolveIt

"I must say that it was sometimes somewhat embarrassing for me to return to EPA and ask for my..."

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:10:00 -0400

“I must say that it was sometimes somewhat embarrassing for me to return to EPA and ask for my colleagues to explain yet again that CO2 is a molecule and there is no scientific way of differentiating between CO2 from a car or a power plant.”

- Former EPA official Jason Burnett in Senate testimony, via Think Progress: Bush Cronies Tried To Redefine ‘Carbon Dioxide’ To Save Power Plants From Emissions Regulations which includes the video.

Marco's Instapaper Mentioned In Today's WSJ

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:51:51 -0400

Marco's Instapaper Mentioned In Today's WSJ:

marco:

boutofcontext:

“A handy way to store Web pages on your iPhone or Touch for reading when you’re offline. While on your computer, an Instapaper button added to the Web browser can snag Web pages for your personal Instapaper database. Then, when your iPhone or iPod Touch is online, it synchronizes with the Web-based Instapaper database. Later, when you’re offline, the pages are still there on the device, ready to read.” - Walt Mossberg & Katherine Boehret

!

Congrats, Marco! Please let us know how the Mossberg bump works out.

Is McCain a no-shot?

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:01:38 -0400

Is McCain a no-shot?:

Emory University’s Alan Abramowitz has concocted a formula that has predicted the popular vote winner in 14 of the last 15 elections; it missed in 1968 but got the razor-thin margin right…. McCain’s score is the worst since Jimmy Carter’s in 1980.

…

The media will try to preserve the illusion of a toss-up; you’ll keep seeing “Obama Leads, But Voters Have Concerns” headlines. But when Democrats are winning blood-red congressional districts in Mississippi and Louisiana, when the Republican President is down to 28% approval ratings, when the economy is tanking and world affairs keep breaking Obama’s way, it shouldn’t be heresy to recognize that McCain needs an improbable series of breaks. Analysts get paid to analyze and cable news has airtime to fill, so pundits have an incentive to make politics seem complicated. In the end, though, it’s usually pretty simple. Everyone seems to agree that 2008 is a change election. Which of these guys looks like change?

On the left, Steve Jobs announcing the iPhone, January 2007. On...

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 21:48:00 -0400

On the left, Steve Jobs announcing the iPhone, January 2007. On the right, Steve Jobs announcing iPhone 2.0, June 2008.

Rich Karlgaard asks whether or not Jobs’ health is a private matter, as Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said on yesterday’s analyst call discussing Apple’s quarterly results. Karlgaard says:

A month ago, Apple claimed Jobs was suffering from “a common bug.” Now it has morphed from “common bug” to “private matter.” I don’t like the trajectory of this.

Weight loss from malabsorption is a common side effect of the surgery Jobs had in 2004 to remove a cancerous tumor from his pancreas; surgery that took place nine months after discovery of the tumor. Why nine months?

A Buddhist and vegetarian, the Apple CEO was skeptical of mainstream medicine. Jobs decided to employ alternative methods to treat his pancreatic cancer, hoping to avoid the operation through a special diet.

A very serious cameraphone.

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:53:07 -0400

A very serious cameraphone.

"I cannot imagine the future, but I care about it. I know I am a part of a story that starts long..."

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 15:18:58 -0400

“I cannot imagine the future, but I care about it. I know I am a part of a story that starts long before I can remember and continues long beyond when anyone will remember me. I sense that I am alive at a time of important change, and I feel a responsibility to make sure that the change comes out well. I plant my acorns knowing that I will never live to harvest the oaks.”

- Danny Hillis, 1995. Some really good stuff in there. (via Slashdot’s mention of Neal Stephenson’s new book, Anathem, due in September)

"It would be terrific to have an article from Senator McCain that mirrors Senator Obama’s..."

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:15:00 -0400

“It would be terrific to have an article from Senator McCain that mirrors Senator Obama’s piece. To that end, the article would have to articulate, in concrete terms, how Senator McCain defines victory in Iraq.”

- David Shipley, New York Times Op-Ed Editor
It would be easier to say this was a bad decision if Shipley wasn’t right. The Drudge Report has the McCain piece, which will now get more attention than if it had been in the Times.

July 21, 1925: Evolution Teacher Found Guilty

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:49:14 -0400

July 21, 1925: Evolution Teacher Found Guilty: If only this wasn’t still relevant.

Informed Comment: Obama in Iraq

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:59:30 -0400

Informed Comment: Obama in Iraq:

Despite all the talk about Iraq being “calm,” I’d like to point out that the month just before the last visit Barack Obama made to Iraq (he went in January, 2006), there were 537 civilian and ISF Iraqi casualties. In June of this year, 2008, there were 554 according to AP. These are official statistics gathered passively that probably only capture about 10 percent of the true toll.

That is, the Iraqi death toll is actually still worse now than the last time Obama was in Iraq! … The hype around last year’s troop escalation obscures a simple fact: that Obama formed his views about the need for the US to leave Iraq at a time when its security situation was very similar to what it is now! Why a return to the bad situation in late 05 and early 06 should be greeted by the GOP as the veritable coming of the Messiah is beyond me. You have people like Joe Lieberman saying silly things like if it weren’t for the troop escalation, Obama wouldn’t be able to visit Iraq. Uh, he visited it before the troop escalation, just fine.

Zimbabwe announces $100 billion banknotes, worth one U.S....

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 21:06:00 -0400

Zimbabwe announces $100 billion banknotes, worth one U.S. dollar, will go into circulation Monday.

Once-prosperous Zimbabwe has seen an unprecedented economic meltdown since it gained independence in 1980, with the official inflation rate now at 2.2 million percent.

The ZBW 50 billion dollar note pictured above sold on eBay for just under USD 120 (it’s worth $0.50).

Do You Believe in Evolution?

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 15:35:23 -0400

Do You Believe in Evolution?:

Concentrate on the believe in: no, I don’t believe in evolution. Think of how that phrase is often applied. Little kids believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. We often judge their maturity by finding out which things they still believe in and which they have “grown out of” (“Aren’t you a little old to still believe in the Tooth Fairy?”).

Dear Staten Island Yankees, What kind of baseball stadium runs out of hot dogs? In the sixth inning?...

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:12:30 -0400

Dear Staten Island Yankees,
What kind of baseball stadium runs out of hot dogs? In the sixth inning? Weak.

Sincerely,
Concerned Patron

P.S. That stunt you pulled with the fake third baseman who the mascot convinced to break dance on the field between innings was hysterical and genius.

"Sarbanes-Oxley is often presented as the bane of corporate executives but for Lehman, its accounting..."

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:48:40 -0400

“Sarbanes-Oxley is often presented as the bane of corporate executives but for Lehman, its accounting demands could play the vital role of assuring counter-parties that Lehman is safe to do business with even without the oversight of public shareholders.”

- John Carney in today’s PE Week Wire.

"Now the Fed wants to be the systemic risk regulator. But the Fed is the systemic risk. Giving the..."

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:52:00 -0400

“Now the Fed wants to be the systemic risk regulator. But the Fed is the systemic risk. Giving the Fed more power is like giving the neighborhood kid who broke your window playing baseball in the street a bigger bat and thinking that will fix the problem.”

- Senator Jim Bunning, Kentucky in his remarks to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and the Senate Banking Committee on the Federal Reserve Monetary Policy Report. This is the same statement you might have seen mentioned because of his “When I picked up my newspaper yesterday, I thought I woke up in France” line.

An unfortunate Chinese restaurant. In the comments, Insect...

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:52:00 -0400

An unfortunate Chinese restaurant.

In the comments, Insect Hooves adds, “OM NOM NOM. I love their Segfault Chicken. And their Short Stack Overflow is to die for. Ooooh, and their 404 Not Pound Cake (foghorn)”

(via Boing Boing)

Two Questions

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:50:55 -0400

What percentage of restaurants in your neighborhood do you think would be open to you bringing your own containers for takeout?

What percentage of your Facebook friends do you think you’ll ever see again in person?

I’m guessing about 70% for both but that might be optimistic (yes, I’m bored).

"When asked which of the items were made with post-consumer recycled material or were made of..."

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:29:52 -0400

“When asked which of the items were made with post-consumer recycled material or were made of biodegradable material, the PRbot giving the pitch seemed flustered. She said that they tried to use such materials whenever possible, and pointed out a post-consumer WALL-E branded Kleenex box. Every environmental group will beg you to avoid Kleenex, since they’re wiping out Canada’s Boreal Forest to give you a place to blow your nose, so the Kleenex connection is fucking pathetic in itself for a movie that trumpets taking care of the environment.”

- Your guide to the WALL-E controversy. So good.

"Politics is just, uh, choking good sense."

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:01:37 -0400

“Politics is just, uh, choking good sense.”

- George W. Bush