Captain of our fairy band

Good Cop, Dadaist Cop

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 11:51:14 +0100

Good Cop, Dadaist Cop:

from xkcd.com

★ Mountain Lion

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 11:51:13 +0100

★ Mountain Lion:

from Daring Fireball

Tweede Kamer (via foksuk)

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:47:49 +0100

Tweede Kamer (via foksuk)

"There is no doubt Greece is going through hell these days trying to meet the demands of its eurozone..."

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:43:12 +0100

“There is no doubt Greece is going through hell these days trying to meet the demands of its eurozone partners. Greeks feel humiliated at having to beg for cash. Germany is instantly identified as the culprit. The problem lies on both sides. Mr Schäuble thought he was simply stating the obvious, but in the febrile atmosphere in Athens it was bound to produce an hysterical reaction. As for Mr Papoulias’s response, it reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of modern Germany. Greek politicians are not alone in that.
Postwar Germany is both profoundly provincial and committed to Europe. The federal system keeps central government in check, locked into a system of coalition government that is consensual and slow-moving. Both politics and the bureaucracy are dominated by lawyers (Mr Schäuble is one) who believe passionately in the need for rules and respect for the law. It makes for a confusing mixture of compromise and inflexibility. Mixed messages emerge from the different centres of power, not least from the finance ministry and the chancellor’s office, until they can agree a common line.”

- Berlin keeps unearthly hush on eurozone crisis - FT.com

Greece is broken, and can’t be fixed

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:36:13 +0100

Greece is broken, and can’t be fixed:

from Felix Salmon

"Behind the scenes […] some of the brightest minds in the German government have a sense of..."

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:05:26 +0100

“Behind the scenes […] some of the brightest minds in the German government have a sense of deep foreboding. Twice in the past year I have found myself sitting next to different senior German officials at a dinner who have proceeded to tell me that the whole single currency was a terrible mistake. Speaking of the euro, one of my companions said: “It seems to me that we have invented a machine from hell that we cannot turn off.” The image was so bleak and Strangelovian that I laughed. But, I am afraid, it’s not really very funny.”

- Gideon Rachman, Germany faces a machine from hell - FT.com

"Google, by gaining the consent of its users in the form of a quick tick, has secured the power to..."

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 23:00:05 +0100

“Google, by gaining the consent of its users in the form of a quick tick, has secured the power to build an electronic surveillance apparatus that far exceeds anything the Bush administration tried to do.”

- Google must remember our right to be forgotten - FT.com

Henry Miller's writing commandments

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:21:27 +0100

Henry Miller's writing commandments:

from kottke.org

Leave the Valentine's Day Google Doodle Alone

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:06:34 +0100

Leave the Valentine's Day Google Doodle Alone:

from Technology : The Atlantic

Okay, Cupid! How to Bring More Diversity to Online Dating

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 12:06:33 +0100

Okay, Cupid! How to Bring More Diversity to Online Dating:

from Technology : The Atlantic

How soccer brings Wall Street to a grinding halt

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:51:52 +0100

How soccer brings Wall Street to a grinding halt:

from Wonkblog

Geek Valentine

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:28:23 +0100

Geek Valentine :

sqrt(cos(1.5x))*cos(500x) sqrt(abs(x))-0.7)*(4-x*x)^0.01, sqrt(6-x^2), -sqrt(6-x^2) from -2 to 2

"It seems that Arrington and Siegler think that speaking from the heart is the ultimate route to the..."

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:04:57 +0100

“It seems that Arrington and Siegler think that speaking from the heart is the ultimate route to the truth, which is a fine thing to believe when you’re young and naive and unfamiliar with the myriad ways that we compartmentalize our thoughts, revise our view of the past and reconstruct a present narrative that suits however we’re feeling about the world and ourselves on that particular day. On one level, I admire this line of reasoning. It’s writing with a voice — and a history and a context and a face — that has revived analysis and even (improbably) the essay in the digital medium, and many of the finest practitioners of this art owe an unacknowledged debt to the deliberately self-unschooled “hacks” who first started throwing brickbats from outside what used to meaningfully be called the mainstream media. But when Siegler and Arrington are going on about how insanely jealous of their success Lyons must be, rather than answering his charge of bias, what their misunderstanding (or misdirection) suggests is that they can only imagine that a writer would be principally motivated, as they are, by what appears to be simple greed.”

- What You Should Think of the Controversy Over Silicon Valley’s “Journalism” - Technology Review

Will the Developing World Be Mobile First or Mobile Forever?

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:51:57 +0100

Will the Developing World Be Mobile First or Mobile Forever?:

from Technology : The Atlantic

"If the present agreement holds out, the hope in about eight years’ time is that Greece is in a..."

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:32:06 +0100

“If the present agreement holds out, the hope in about eight years’ time is that Greece is in a similar position to that of Italy today. But without Italy’s high level of private wealth.
If that does not sound daunting enough, remember that the previous agreements between Greece and the Troika were not short of over-optimistic projections and unfulfilled promises.”

- Willem Buiter: Greece far from safe even after debt swap - FT.com

Propaganda or Hoax? The Pro-Putin Music Video That Has Russia Talking

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:36:44 +0100

Propaganda or Hoax? The Pro-Putin Music Video That Has Russia Talking:

from International : The Atlantic

"The reconstruction of Onagawa and the rest of the coast where the tsunami hit is a preview of what..."

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:18:08 +0100

“The reconstruction of Onagawa and the rest of the coast where the tsunami hit is a preview of what may be the most critical test Japan will face in the decades ahead. In a country where power rests disproportionately among older people, how does Japan, which has the world’s most rapidly aging population, use its dwindling resources to build a society that looks to the future as much as to the past?”

- Amid Japan Reconstruction, Generational Rift Opens - NYTimes.com

Would you like fewer fries with that?

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 14:21:29 +0100

Would you like fewer fries with that?:

from Wonkblog

Amsterdam anno 2012

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 21:49:16 +0100

Amsterdam anno 2012

Alan Brown: The Courage of Private Romeo

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 10:36:58 +0100

Alan Brown: The Courage of Private Romeo:

from Gay Voices