iProduct

iProduct via Gizmodo

I used to line up and buy the stuff every time they released it. I probably still would. And as the person who waits on line for these things, I can tell you that this ad is absolutely spot on.

Daniel W. Drezner on food porn

danieldrezner.com :: A very important post about... food porn

MMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.... food porn.

And the ad for the thickburger.

A) I don't know why there's mayo on there. What is this, Canadia?
B) I'd have to get it without the bacon, in honor of my God.
C) People are so concerned with the calories... man calories come and go, and especially with something like this that is so much fat and protein, in the grand scheme, it's not that big a deal. My real problem with it is the sodium, which you can be sure breaks 1500 mg. 1.5 grams of salt? I was wandering through the grocery store the other day to discover that the pre-made soup had over a thousand grams of sodium. It boggles the mind.

While that burger above looks good, I think the one below is the one for me....

Now THIS is a burger. At least it has tomatoes.

Newspapers Aren't Read All Over, pt. 2

Blog Your Way - Do publications have this type of reach?

Here's the follow up to my article of yesterday. This individual does a study on his blog roll and compares the typical media outlets (NYT, cNet, ZDNet, Wired, etc) to online blogs (Winer, Curry, Searls) and notes that the VAST majorities of stories appear to be from the online products rather than the more traditional ones. This may be the case, and certainly supports the Motley Fool piece, but a lot of this is just an artifact that the production of these other media types are not optimized for online pieces. As a result, there's a lot less linking to them and, obviously, will appear in a lot less blog rolls. I believe the publications listed have a much larger reach (probably by many orders of magnitude), but in this community they just do not appear. That is not to say they do not affect our community (notice how I saw our, as though I am a substantial contributer/participant in the blogsphere), just they do not appear in the links.

Fool.com: Newspapers Aren't Read All Over [Motley Fool Take] January 11, 2005

Fool.com: Newspapers Aren't Read All Over [Motley Fool Take] January 11, 2005

There have been a couple of stories like this recently about newspapers ceasing to be as interesting. Two quick comments: a) I still do not think anything in the instant world (blogsphere or cable news) is as well researched and thorough as a long article in the Times or WSJ; b) none of the media types dictate the quality of the news; that is the responsibility of the writer and editor (and there must be both)! I do think that paper media suffers but only because they have not yet caught onto the proper way to expand their reach. I love sitting down to read an entire set of articles about something, such as social security, in the Times, but that's not something I am going to do at work regardless of the format. Similarly, RSS feeds are great, but they're still not easy to take to an easy chair, even with a laptop. Different formats for different needs, please.

100 years of Einstein

Economist.com | 100 years of Einstein

Unfortunately, the article is not exactly great (it requires a bit too much understanding of physics), but the sentiment is exactly right. In just over a year, Einstein changed the way that every one inside and outside physics looks at the world we live in. I like to think of myself as an optimist (well, a pessimist who has optimist leanings) and I can tell you this right now: I will NEVER affect the world in that way in such a short period of time. The most amazing thing about it is that he asked people to question their most fundamental beliefs about the way they knew the universe was constructed. This is akin to someone coming along and telling you the sun is going to rise in the west tomorrow, and then having the data to back it up. Of course, because this is theoretical physics, it’s more like someone telling you the sun is going to rise in the west tomorrow, then showing you why in the data, then the next day there’s a bit of light on the western horizon and you have to infer everything from there, only to have it verified or not verified 50 years later. One thing that I really admire about the field generally is the amazing deductions that they must make in order to prove their theories. High order math is the same way: if A, then B, then C, then D, then E… ok, we’re looking for E. I love that stuff.

Google and Their Participation in Open Source

More on Google and Open Source

To quote Theo de Raadt...

"But software which OpenBSD uses and redistributes must be free to all (be they people or companies), for any purpose they wish to use it, including modification, use, peeing on, or even integration into baby mulching machines or atomic bombs to be dropped on Australia."

People who defend Google by saying "the community their our search engine" have, as Mr. Obasanjo pointed out, really missed the boat. One could say that Hotmail contributes to the open source community even MORE since people in the open source community use it, but it does not even use their code! The GPL is just weird, plain and simple. It is really hard, in these IP sensitive times, to give something to someone and then ask to control how they use it. Google does not give anything back, at least not yet. When they post a kernel mod, or a server monitoring app they wrote, or whatever, then we can have a new conversation. But the chance of them posting enough back to the community to equal the amount that they have taken is vanishingly small. All the more reason to move to a BSD license. Either make it free (from all restrictions) or restrict it. None of this in between crap.

Live.. Democratic?

Blue Wrist Bands via Talking Points Memos

The site is down right now, but it looks like they were selling the rubber wrist bands like the LiveStrong ones but in blue (get it, cause they want you to vote like a Democratic)! Good thing too, because those things will only be 4 years out of date by the time the next election comes around.

Jon Corzine Against Social Security Private Accounts

NJ.com: Search via TalkingPointsMemo

Remind me again why anyone would want to run for public office? Here's a very smart guy who has controlled more money than you and I will ever see who's opinion I would have trusted implicitly when it came to huge public bills like Social Security Reform (or at least would have clearly understood his conflicts of interest). Now, is it a good opinion or merely a democratic shill? Nonetheless, he comes out against privatization in his local paper editorial.