April 2009
61 posts
Should Men Worry About Their Own Biological Clock? →
A growing body of research supports the idea that there are biological disadvantages to late-in-life fatherhood. But will society’s view of male fertility ever change?
(thanks, Essays)
Why Being Smart Won't Get You Laid →
In fact, the smarter you are, the more clueless you will be, and the more problems you’re going to have in your dating life.
Why I Fired My Broker →
With his 401(k) in ruins, our correspondent visits investment gurus, hedge fund managers, and a freakish Arizona survivalist with one question in mind: How can the ordinary investor recover?
Rich People Things →
My ill-starred tenure at New York magazine was, among other things, a crash course in the staggering unselfawareness of Manhattan class privilege.
Brain Gain →
The underground world of “neuroenhancing” drugs.
Typeface Inspired by Comic Books Has Become a Font... →
Mr. Connare has looked on, alternately amused and mortified, as Comic Sans has spread from a software project at Microsoft Corp. 15 years ago to grade-school fliers and holiday newsletters, Disney ads and Beanie Baby tags, business emails, street signs, Bibles, porn sites, gravestones and hospital posters about bowel cancer.
The Doctor of the Future →
In March, President Obama identified “the biggest threat to our nation’s balance sheet.” Not major banks on the brink of insolvency. Not paralyzed credit markets. Not a bailout tab in the trillions. The biggest threat, he warned, “by a wide margin,” is “the skyrocketing price of health care.”
(thanks, Avi Flax)
Big Entertainment Wants to Party Like It's 1996 →
In 2009, the world is populated by people who no longer believe that “Thou shalt sell media on plastic discs forever” came down off the mountain on two stone tablets. It’s populated by people who find the spectacle of companies suing their own customers by the thousands indefensible. It’s populated by activists who’ve figured out that the Internet is worth saving...
A Cyber-Attack on an American City →
Just after midnight on Thursday, April 9, unidentified attackers climbed down four manholes serving the Northern California city of Morgan Hill and cut eight fiber cables in what appears to have been an organized attack on the electronic infrastructure of an American city. Its implications, though startling, have gone almost un-reported.
Andrew Sullivan: Thinking. Out. Loud. →
One of America’s most-read bloggers is Catholic, conservative, gay, pro-Obama—and from East Grinstead. Johann Hari profiles Andrew Sullivan, a writer with an extraordinary tale to tell.
The Hipster Grifter →
It’s likely that when Kari Ferrell walked into the Vice magazine offices in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, last month to interview for an administrative assistant job, they thought they’d hit the jackpot.
The high costs of running YouTube →
Google doesn’t break out YouTube’s profits and losses on its earnings statements, and of course it’s possible that Credit Suisse’s estimates are off. But if the analysts are at all close, YouTube, which Google bought in 2006, is in big trouble. As Benjamin Wayne, the CEO of the rival video-streaming company Fliqz, pointed out in a recent article for Silicon Alley Insider,...
Stealing Mona Lisa →
The shocking theft of the Mona Lisa, in August 1911, appeared to have been solved 28 months later, when the painting was recovered. In an excerpt from their new book, the authors suggest that the audacious heist concealed a perfect—and far more lucrative—crime.
The truth about Columbine →
Ten years ago, two teenagers walked into a Colorado school and massacred 13 people. The killings sparked wall-to-wall media coverage around the world - much of which has since turned out to be nonsense. Andrew Gumbel, who reported on the aftermath, explains what really happened that day — and why.
(thanks, Christian Meyer)
Everyone Should Pay Income Taxes →
It’s bad for our democracy to exempt half the country.
Socialism has failed. Now capitalism is bankrupt.... →
Whatever ideological logo we adopt, the shift from free market to public action needs to be bigger than politicians grasp.
PIN Crackers Nab Holy Grail of Bank Card Security →
Hackers have crossed into new frontiers by devising sophisticated ways to steal large amounts of personal identification numbers, or PINs, protecting credit and debit cards, says an investigator. The attacks involve both unencrypted PINs and encrypted PINs that attackers have found a way to crack.
Class Dismissed →
A new status anxiety is infecting affluent hipdom.
Hanging Tough →
So, when the Depression hit, no one knew what would happen to consumer demand. Post did the predictable thing: it reined in expenses and cut back on advertising. But Kellogg doubled its ad budget, moved aggressively into radio advertising, and heavily pushed its new cereal, Rice Krispies. … By 1933, even as the economy cratered, Kellogg’s profits had risen almost thirty per cent and it...
Guy Walks into a Bar Car →
Lost loves and lost years.
By David Sedaris.
Why Minds Are Not Like Computers →
Participants in the AI debate should seek to avoid error and confusion by beginning with a clear understanding of computer principles and, when discussing properties of the mind, being specific about which level they are referring to.
The Failure of #amazonfail →
After an enormous number of books relating to lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgendered (LGBT) themes lost their Amazon sales rank, and therefore their visibility in certain Amazon list and search functions, we participated in a public campaign, largely coordinated via the Twitter keyword #amazonfail (a form of labeling called a hashtag) because of a perceived injustice at the hands of that...
Is a high IQ a burden as much as a blessing? →
“There has always been the idea that people with high IQs are actually more advanced, more evolved, closer to the human destiny, if you believe that sort of thing, closer to God. But in fact all you have really got is answers to questions.”
A Local Revolution? →
What if startups are both a new economic phase and also a type of business that only flourishes in certain centers?
Lessons In Survival →
The science that explains why elite military forces bounce back faster than the rest of us.
The Road to Area 51 →
After decades of denying the facility’s existence, five former insiders speak out.
Google in the middle →
Google’s role as the dominant middleman in the digital content business resembles Wal-Mart’s role as the dominant middleman in the consumer products business. Because of the vastness of Wal-Mart’s market share, consumer goods companies have little choice but to sell their wares through the retailing giant, even if the retailing giant squeezes their profit margin to zilch....
Free as in "Me" →
Nobody but me is allowed to decide why I make things. And — if and when I choose to give away the things that I make — nobody but me is allowed to define how or where I’ll do it.
The Running Man, Revisited →
The endurance running hypothesis, the idea that humans evolved as long-distance runners, may have legs thanks to a new study on toes.
The Banker Who Said No →
While the nation’s lenders ran amok during the boom, Andy Beal hoarded his money. Now he’s cleaning up—with scant help from Uncle Sam.
The Bush Six →
About a year ago, a book came out in England that made a fascinating prediction: at some point in the future, the author wrote, six top officials in the Bush Administration would get a tap on the shoulder announcing that they were being arrested on international charges of torture.
How to Rapidly Improve Speaking Skills →
The fact is, most people speak very poorly. I know, because l used to be a very poor speaker. Now I speak very well, at least that is what everyone tells me. My change from being a poor speaker to being a good speaker happened virtually overnight.
Venal, misleading, pathetic, dangerous, stupid,... →
So newspapers ignore one half of the evidence, and they fail to explain the other half properly. In the past, nobody could catch them, and nobody could compete with them. That has now changed.
(thanks, Michael Quinn)
Have you ever legalized marijuana? →
If you think that legalizing marijuana is a black-and-white, let’s just decide it and get the frigging thing legalized once-and-for-all issue, then you too have some VP blood in you.
VPs have what my brother Mike refers to as “Shit’s Easy Syndrome”.
You know. As in, shit’s easy. If it’s easy to imagine, then it’s easy to implement.
...
How Obama Is Using The Science of Change →
The problem, as anyone with a sweet tooth, an alcoholic relative or a maxed-out Visa card knows, is that old habits die hard. Temptation is strong. We are weak. We’ve got plenty of gurus, talk-show hosts and celebrity spokespeople badgering us to save energy, lose weight and live within our means, but we’re still addicted to oil, junk food and debt. It’s fair to ask whether...
The End of Philosophy →
Today, many psychologists, cognitive scientists and even philosophers embrace a different view of moral thinking based less on reason and deliberation and more on seeing and evaluating.
Do You Own Facebook? Or Does Facebook Own You? →
Trust is a fragile commodity.
From Bubble to Depression? →
Why the housing crash ruined the financial system but the dot-com collapse did not.
How the Web Made Me a Better Copywriter →
It struck me recently that this medium has led me to develop a different way of writing—tighter, simpler, more transparent. The results, I believe, are greater clarity and persuasiveness, and a speedier, more user-friendly read.
(thanks, Adam Osman)
Google's Love For Newspapers and How Little They... →
The audience didn’t seem that pleased with me telling them they were full of shit about how important they thought they were and how awful they thought they had it from Google in particular.
(thanks, gibber)
PowerPointing the way to the end of teaching →
Better stupefied by a slideshow than a paid professor, though, right? The use of PowerPoint seems to be an expression of diffidence on the part of the teacher regarding his oratorical skills: there must be something I can replace as the focal point of class — anything but me! The rhetorical craft that is the teacher’s first and most reliable aide in capturing his students’ imaginations is...
The End of Christian America →
The percentage of self-identified Christians has fallen 10 points in the past two decades. How that statistic explains who we are now—and what, as a nation, we are about to become.
The Inheritance →
With a doomsday clock ticking for newspapers as we know them, no one has more at stake than fourth-generation New York Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., who is scrambling to keep his family’s prized asset alive. Some see him as a lightweight cheerleader, others as the last, best defender of quality journalism. Talking to company insiders, the author examines the nexus of dynasty and...
The dark side of Dubai →
Dubai was meant to be a Middle-Eastern Shangri-La, a glittering monument to Arab enterprise and western capitalism. But as hard times arrive in the city state that rose from the desert sands, an uglier story is emerging.
(thanks, Dan W.)
The Anatomy of a Web Advertising Scam →
The ads plead: Wouldn’t I like to click and read a flat-stomach testimonial? And from there, wouldn’t I like to click to see a product that could help me get that flat stomach without even trying? And from there, wouldn’t I like to order that product for free? And wouldn’t I like to give them my credit card info? And wouldn’t I like to investigate a mysterious charge on my credit card bill 30...
Extroverted Like Me →
How a month and a half on Paxil taught me to love being shy.
Obama’s Nobel Headache →
Paul Krugman has emerged as Obama’s toughest liberal critic. He’s deeply skeptical of the bank bailout and pessimistic about the economy. Why the establishment worries he may be right.
Monopoly Killer: Perfect German Board Game... →
On the huge recent success of Settlers of Catan.
Syria Calling →
The Obama Administration’s chance to engage in a Middle East peace.
Detainee's Harsh Treatment Foiled No Plots →
Since 2006, Senate intelligence committee members have pressed the CIA, in classified briefings, to provide examples of specific leads that were obtained from Abu Zubaida through the use of waterboarding and other methods, according to officials familiar with the requests.
The agency provided none, the officials said.
(thanks, Remarksman)