- Blog
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E-readers Aren’t Dying, They’re Entrenched
A new Pew report with all sorts of nifty data on tablets and e-reading suggests that the sales of dedicated e-readers themselves, like Kindles and Nooks, have stalled, and may be headed downward. I think this is interesting, because the common view seems to be that this is due to the popularity and overall utility…
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E-books, DRM, and the Problem of “Owning”
An article at Ars Technica asks an interesting question: why is DRM still tolerated on e-books when it’s been killed in regards to music? The reasons given boil down to two things: with the ubiquity of cross-platform apps like Amazon’s Kindle app, folks can already read their DRM-locked books on multiple devices, whereas for music…
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Conservative Politics at Gunpoint
This is how politics and advocacy is done on the right. Unlike progressive or reality-based groups who snipe behind each other’s backs, arguing about policy or tactics, or scramble for precious-yet-overlapping sources of income and attention, the conservative movement just brings guns. Via WaPo: [Dick Armey] walked into the [FreedomWorks’] Capitol Hill offices with his…
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“Spiritually Convinced”
David Kuo, most famous for being formerly of George W. Bush’s office of faith-based initiatives, and for later exposing much of that initiative’s cynicism, submits to Andrew Sullivan’s “ask me anything” videos. The question in this video, which is rather too simplistic for my taste: “Is faith foolish?” I don’t want to beat up on…
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Romney Didn’t Want to Be President? Don’t Believe It.
The Boston Globe has a really good behind-the-scenes look at what went wrong for the Romney campaign, including the still-baffling decision to put a Clint Eastwood improvisational sketch in a prime time convention spot in lieu of a very compelling biography video. But what really caught my eye is this assertion from Romney's son Tagg:…
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The Conclusion of the Harrowing CD Baby Non-Saga
My little tiny-violin, poor-me post about CD Baby clearing its shelves of my old 2004 album has become something of a roller coaster. After I posted the piece, I then went to follow CD Baby’s instructions and told them to go ahead and recycle the three copies of the four they had, and they’d keep…
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Cory Booker’s Books
Cory Booker just announced that he will not be running for governor of New Jersey in 2013, and instead will look to run for the U.S. Senate in 2014 (and I don’t think we yet know if he’s spoken to Sen. Launtenberg, as he definitely hasn’t said he’s going to retire). I actually think this…
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CD Baby Declares Me a Waste of Space
In 2004, I had a couple of months off between theatre gigs, and I took that rare opportunity to pour my heart and soul into the recording of my first full-length album. This was a decidedly low-rent affair (though a huge deal for me), produced on a middle-of-the-line Dell desktop using Cakewalk Home Studio 2002,…
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Hence the Gloom
The Economist‘s Lexington blog: As for the National Rifle Association bumper stickers arguing that only an armed citizenry can prevent tyranny, I wonder if that isn’t a form of narcissism, involving the belief that lone, heroic individuals will have the ability to identify tyranny as it descends, recognise it for what it is, and fight…
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Now It’s a Home
Lookin' good, Joe.
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We’re not doing enough. And we will have to change.
The president on Sunday, in Newtown. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftlT41LpIOY&feature=player_embedded Full text here. Almost unbearable to watch, for the heartbreak. A few quick observations: You can see the gravity of sadness — almost the literal gravity — weighing on this man, as though the force of grief itself is pulling on his face. His hair is whiter than…
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200+ Years Ago
MG Siegler: Honestly, I don’t give a shit that you think you have the right to own a gun because someone 200+ years ago said you do to prevent (or allow for) an insurrection or whatever. If this issue is going to be solved, you’re going to have to agree that in the 21st century,…
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Statement from the Interplanetary Black Hole Association
Everyone knows that Red Matter isn’t the problem. Of course, we all grieve at the loss of the planet Vulcan. The billions of individuals senselessly executed by the time-traveling Romulan Nero is a tragedy from which the Federation will likely never recover, and no words can take the pain away from the thousands of off-world…
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The Earth Will Be Peopled by Entirely Another Generation
Yes, they cared about this a hundred years ago, too. From the New York Times, December 12, 1912: For those who delight in that sort of amusement to-day is a day to celebrate by writing a great many letters and dating them, each and every one, 12–12–12. The sequence of the twelves makes positively a…
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Alber Saber Convicted of Blasphemy
My heart breaks at the news. I just did a post at Friendly Atheist on Alber’s conviction, and here’s a taste: Egypt has struck a major blow to the fundamental human right to freedom of expression, and unjustly stripped an innocent man of his freedom, as Alber Saber, the 27-year-old atheist activist and blogger, was…
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