December 2009
44 posts
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Only problem is I made a stoopid: this doesn’t take usual SD memory card! So I have to run out to Best Buy tonight or in the morning to get the right one before I head back to the UK.
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While it might prove impossible to identify an exact point in time when information crosses over the threshold between the referential and the inferential, Lynch argues that the degree to which information maintains or loses it societal relevancy is dependent in part on the nature or subject matter of the information itself:
“It is not the impact of a single story or a single event, but rather...
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Information intended for mass consumption must appear minimally relevant for it to have mass appeal; its boundaries of plausibility must be publicly reasonable to have an impact in the public sphere. Mass media is closely linked to the public sphere, for news information, by necessity, is produced and consumed either with reference or with inference to the public’s “historical memories” of...
yewknee:
hayekd:
What English Sounds Like to Foreigners-
An Italian singer wrote this song with gibberish to sound like English. If you’ve ever wondered what other people think Americans sound like, this is it.
I’ve always wanted to know what this would sound like. It’s amazing how my brain still hears words that aren’t being spoken really.
crazy
So good. Worth the watch.
What is knowledge?
Knowledge is a material object. It is invented, disseminated, and interpreted based on human imagination and historical memory. Mass media give knowledge materiality by transmitting information from its producers to its consumers. But the transmission of knowledge is not one-sided: how one comprehends certain notions and terms depends to a very large degree on his or her social and political...
Rage Against the Machine wins UK's Christmas No 1
This just made Christmas!!!
After a Facebook campaign against Simon Cowell’s chart domination, music fans celebrate their victory.
In recent years, it had become as predictable as elections in North Korea – singer wins X Factor, singer’s debut single goes to No 1. So when Joe McElderry won the TV talent contest, he was no doubt confident he would celebrate Christmas at the top of the...
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Left on red, extended amber lights for cyclist...
While I’ve argued elsewhere that red traffic lights ought to be reserved for cars, I fully understand it’s difficult for a person with some authority to endorse cycling through red lights. But it’s high time people understand that pulling away from the lights along with all the accelerating cars is a dangerous operation, and possibly creates more danger than the act of cycling through...
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MIT team wins Darpa's treasure hunt in less than... →
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Man snaps photo of London building, gets accused... →
Four security guards were watching me, whispering into microphones on their collars. A plainclothes police officer had just covered my camera lens, mentioned the words “hostile reconnaissance” and told me I would be followed around the city if I moved.
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Contemplating the growth of the state
A problem facing many states today is how to shed redundant bureaucratic personnel without overly (or overtly) consolidating the functions of public organizations. In principle, thousands of personnel can be taken off the state payroll without harming the bureaucracy’s effectiveness; its efficiency would surely benefit. But you can’t replace one problem, over-expansion, with another, unemployment!...
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Iran Limits Internet Access Ahead Of Protests →
Stories like this anger me. The government chokes off internet access across the entire country, bringing web browsing speed down to a crawl for all Iranians, in order to deprive its opponents of their key medium for organization. The scale of this technical action speaks to the government’s realization that this specific subset of society — demonstrators, protesters, direct action...
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How to make hummus
Put into bowl:
Juice of one lemon
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 pinch freshly ground black pepper
1 pinch sea salt
1 teaspoon spicy chili-infused olive oil
2 lumps of tahini
Stir until it all becomes a paste, then add 1 can of chickpeas and 1/2 can of borlotti beans. Finally, “jijjer it” (onomatopoeic term to describe the use of a hand held blender) until it makes you smile.
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Secret Project Launched!! →
This is a total Life 2.0 kind of story. I noticed last week on Facebook that my old friend Annvi would soon be launching a website for her new business. She was asking the sorts of questions I knew the answers to, so I piped up. As we conversed it became clear that the site was fully conceptualized and content-ready, but it was nowhere close to actually being built. I volunteered to put it...