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Jun
15th

Sat

Obama Administration Hypocrisy on Spying and Everything Else

This has become one of the trademarks of the Obama administration: decry human rights abuses abroad, but hold men in prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, who have never been accused of a crime. Say all the right things about freedom of the press — even as you’re subpoenaing reporters’ phone records. And express outrage over Chinese hacking while carrying on a sophisticated spying operation of your own citizens. It may seem to us a false equivalence, but the existence of Prism will make it far more difficult to force the Chinese to get serious about stopping their own hacking.

- Joe Nocera, NY Times

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Jun
7th

Fri

A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. … A schedule is a mock-up of reason and order—willed, faked, and so brought into being; it is a peace and a haven set into the wreck of time;

—

A beautiful meditation by Annie Dillard.

Pair with this guide to mastering your daily routine.

(via explore-blog)

(Source: , via explore-blog)

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May
30th

Thu

Betteridge's law of headlines - Wikipedia

transpondster:

Betteridge’s law of headlines is an adage that states, “Any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.”

Betteridge explained the concept in a February 2009 article, regarding a TechCrunch article with the headline “Did Last.fm Just Hand Over User Listening Data To the RIAA?”:

This story is a great demonstration of my maxim that any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word “no.” The reason why journalists use that style of headline is that they know the story is probably bullshit, and don’t actually have the sources and facts to back it up, but still want to run it.