in the moment

“If there is any threat to the sanctity of marriage in...

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:45:00 -0500

“If there is any threat to the sanctity of marriage in America, it comes from those of us who have the privilege and the right and we have abused it for decades.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Senator Savino speaks on Marriage Equality (via NYSenate)

"The room then grew quiet as each stood and recited what he regarded as the “untruths” in his own..."

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 14:31:03 -0500

“

The room then grew quiet as each stood and recited what he regarded as the “untruths” in his own faith. The minister said that one “untruth” for him was that “Christianity is the only way to God.” The rabbi said for him it was the notion of Jews as “the chosen people.” And the sheik said for him it was the “sword verses” in the Koran, like “kill the unbeliever.”

“It is a verse taken out of context,” Sheik Rahman said, pointing out that the previous verse says that God has no love for aggressors. “But we have to acknowledge that ‘kill the unbelievers’ is an awkward verse,’ ” the sheik said as the crowd laughed. “Some verses are literal, some are metaphorical, but the Koran doesn’t say which is which.”

”

- It would be useful for every religion to do this. Point out the stuff in texts that are untruths.

3 Clergymen Tell How Differences of Faith Led to Friendship - NYTimes.com

So true. via gapingvoid.com

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:33:59 -0500

So true.

via gapingvoid.com

There’s something about subway photos. This takes it to...

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:39:18 -0500

There’s something about subway photos. This takes it to the next level. Very cool.

fred-wilson:

nevver:

14
St

"But this latest French utopia has met a prosaic reality: Many of the specially designed bikes, which..."

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 22:47:09 -0400

“

But this latest French utopia has met a prosaic reality: Many of the specially designed bikes, which cost $3,500 each, are showing up on black markets in Eastern Europe and northern Africa. Many others are being spirited away for urban joy rides, then ditched by roadsides, their wheels bent and tires stripped.

With 80 percent of the initial 20,600 bicycles stolen or damaged, the program’s organizers have had to hire several hundred people just to fix them. And along with the dent in the city-subsidized budget has been a blow to the Parisian psyche.

”

- Velib, the French bike rental system, is facing challenges. If a public good system like this can’t work in a “first world” country, it has little chance anywhere else. Wonder if there are any product changes that could help fix the issue…

French Ideal of Bicycle-Sharing Meets Reality - NYTimes.com

"There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born..."

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:30:39 -0400

“There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter—the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something. Of these three trembling cities the greatest is the last—the city of final destination, the city that is a goal. It is this third city that accounts for New York’s high-strung disposition, its poetical deportment, its dedication to the arts, and its incomparable achievements. Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness; natives give it solidity and continuity; but the settlers give it passion. And whether it is a farmer arriving from Italy to set up a small grocery store in a slum, or a young girl arriving from a small town in Mississippi to escape the indignity of being observed by her neighbors, or a boy arriving from the Corn Belt with a manuscript in his suitcase and a pain in his heart, it makes no difference: each embraces New York with the intense excitement of first love, each absorbs New York with the fresh eyes of an adventurer, each generates heat and light to dwarf the Consolidated Edison Company.”

- I read this book a long time ago (R’s suggestion) and loved it.

Here is New York, E. B. White, 1949 (via fred-wilson, via cdixon)

Cool www.newyorker.com cover. Via @patrix

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:46:55 -0400

Cool www.newyorker.com cover. Via @patrix

"Was it true that the president had refused to meet the Dalai Lama on his visit to Washington? He..."

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 19:46:36 -0400

“

Was it true that the president had refused to meet the Dalai Lama on his visit to Washington?

He was told that Obama had indeed tried to curry favor with China by declining to see the Dalai Lama until after the president’s visit to China next month.

Dissing the Dalai was part of a broader new Obama policy called “strategic reassurance” — softening criticism of China’s human rights record and financial policies to calm its fears that America is trying to contain it. (Not to mention our own fears that the Chinese will quit bankrolling our debt.)

”

- Op-Ed Columnist - Fie, Fatal Flaw! - NYTimes.com

Alright, with this, Obama’s fallen drastically. Pathetic. Grow a pair, will you?

Best Car Commercial Ever (via Krishna)

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 01:11:16 -0400

Best Car Commercial Ever (via Krishna)

Road, Movie by Director Dev Benegal. Now THIS looks like it will...

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:25:52 -0400

Road, Movie by Director Dev Benegal. Now THIS looks like it will be the movie of the year from India!

Tech Support Cheat Sheet Reveals the Secrets of Troubleshooting...

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:08:59 -0400

Tech Support Cheat Sheet Reveals the Secrets of Troubleshooting - Lifehacker

Sartorial Stumping

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 21:08:05 -0400

Sartorial Stumping:

My buddy Thalia Chantziara’s work is in the NY Times. Very cool!

"The question for India, Kashmiris say, is whether the huge security presence is doing more harm than..."

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 16:51:24 -0400

“The question for India, Kashmiris say, is whether the huge security presence is doing more harm than good. “Maybe at some point in time when the militants were in the thousands it made sense to have so many soldiers here,” said Mehbooba Mufti, leader of a major opposition party here. “But at this point they are not helping in any way. Their mere presence has become a source of friction.””

- 2 Killings Stoke Kashmiri Rage at Indian Force - NYTimes.com

Come on, India - hold troops who commit these kinds of attrocities accountable! This is horrible - innocent citizens (note, citizens, not civilans) are being brutalized by an army that knows it can get away with it. Even if the militants vanish, these citizens will not feel part of India if they are treated this way.

"Restarting the War on Cancer has to start at the top: in 1971, Congress decided that the president,..."

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:28:59 -0400

“Restarting the War on Cancer has to start at the top: in 1971, Congress decided that the president, not the head of the National Institutes of Health, should appoint the director of the National Cancer Institute. Yet like all too many outposts of the White House, the institute has become a largely rudderless ship in dire need of a bold captain who will settle only for total victory. President Obama must choose strong new leadership for the institute from among our nation’s best cancer researchers; it also needs a seasoned developer of new pharmaceuticals who can radically speed up the pace at which anticancer drugs are developed and clinically tested.”

- Agree with Watson - it’s time to step up again. The top doctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering say that the funding environment has become much tougher. That’s just sad.

Change the game, Obama - medical research doesn’t just help America, it helps the world.

To Fight Cancer, Know the Enemy - NYTimes.com

New York, I Love You. Can’t wait to watch this…

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:46:55 -0400

New York, I Love You.

Can’t wait to watch this…

"This is morning in America in the Internet age. After six to eight hours of network deprivation —..."

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 04:25:13 -0400

“This is morning in America in the Internet age. After six to eight hours of network deprivation — also known as sleep — people are increasingly waking up and lunging for cellphones and laptops, sometimes even before swinging their legs to the floor and tending to more biologically urgent activities.”

- For Families Today, Technology Is Morning’s First Priority - NYTimes.com

"2. Monopolistic practices in telecommunications ——————————————————– Apple’s iPhone is a..."

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 17:45:39 -0400

“2. Monopolistic practices in telecommunications
——————————————————–
Apple’s iPhone is a revolutionary product that has devolved almost all of the progress made in cracking–wait for it–AT&T’s monoply in the ’70s and ’80s. We broke up the Bell Phone only to have it put back together by the iPhone. Telecommunications choice is gone for Apple users. If you buy an Apple and want to have a seemless experience with your iPhone, you must get in bed with AT&T, and as we like to say in the technology space, “AT&T is the suck.””

- I waited until the iPhone was hacked to use it on T-Mobile. I now have a legally unlocked iPhone. I refuse to use ATT and, as much as I love the device, from the very beginning have been livid with Apple’s silly business practices with regard to the iPhone.

Jason’s blog post is a comprehensive shredding of Apple and its recent practices. Can’t disagree with any of them.

The Case Against Apple–in Five Parts « The Jason Calacanis Weblog

UNDERCITY - Andrew Wonder shoots on 5d mkii (via Mitch)

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:11:50 -0400

UNDERCITY - Andrew Wonder shoots on 5d mkii (via Mitch)

Flutter: The New Twitter Nice :)

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 05:42:59 -0400

Flutter: The New Twitter

Nice :)

"Andre insisted on knowing why we had been stopped. The officer gave a reason. It wasn’t true. Then..."

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 11:25:22 -0400

“

Andre insisted on knowing why we had been stopped. The officer gave a reason. It wasn’t true. Then he said something I will never forget: that if he wanted to, he could make us lie down in the middle of the road and shoot us in the back of the head and no one would say anything about it. Then he walked to his car and drove away.

He had raised the specter of executing us. He wanted to impress upon us his power and our worth, or lack thereof. We were shocked, afraid, humiliated and furious. We were the good guys — dean’s list students with academic scholarships. I was the freshman class president. This wasn’t supposed to happen to us.

”

- Another perspective. Complex issues have multiple perspective. Fascinating to read about them.

Op-Ed Columnist - Welcome to the ‘Club’ - NYTimes.com