(via newsweek)
EPIC FU Interview
Since no one looks at this blog, I’ve decided to humor my ego and post this interview I gave to Epic FU last year. On top of all the positive-affirmation cassettes I listen to of Whales telling me in their song language that I’m a pretty pony and not a loser anymore, sometimes I like to watch this video one or twenty times a day to help me make it to Happy Hour (which in my house starts at Noon). So big thanks to Steve and Zadi at Epic FU for enabling me to remember what dreams sounded like coming out of my mouth.
Also, to the none of you reading this, here is the extended cut of the interview:

zadi:
Zadi and Steve’s Infinite Playlist
We just moved into our new place and have two large boxes of music CDs that have been stored away for over ten years. We’re digitizing it all and uploading a favorite from each CD. We don’t know what we’ll find, but it’ll be interesting going down music memory lane. Some of it will be amazing, some of it will make us cringe, but all of it will be entertaining.
This is my new favorite Tumblr account. And I’m including mine in that assertion.
My blog is going to be a lot less active over the next two weeks as I hit NYC, Chicago, and New Orleans in short order. I know this probably leaves you all broken and crying, but just try to make it through the next 13 days and everything will be better afterwards - I promise.
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I keep asking myself why the Republicans would have agreed to let Obama smack down their nonsense for 90 minutes on live television. And I keep coming to the same conclusion. They’ve started to believe their own bullshit. These people weren’t at all prepared for Obama to cordially decimate their arguments. They clearly weren’t prepared for the president to come armed with facts gleaned from having actually read their proposals. They weren’t prepared to go up against a smart, reasonable guy who’s not even a little bit afraid of them. (via ericmortensen) (via mikehudack) (via evangotlib) Why should they concern themselves with facts, their constituents don’t. I’m not being glib either, which party has a higher percentage of “birthers”? Where are you more likely to find “young earthers” and “creationists”? Which is the anti-science party? Which party is more contemptuous of intellectualism? Which party has railed against being “elite” for decades now? It’s not glib to say that when the foundations of your party are based on skewing the truth in favor of continuing to lie (in spite of the presence of obvious facts) you’re going to stop concerning yourself with those very facts. Your constituents don’t care about facts, figures, or science, how can you? |
In one year, here’s what I caught (you might have your own list):
The last U.S. Marines are leaving Iraq.
Credit card companies can no longer charge interest on fees, and can’t retroactively raise your interest rate on existing balances.
We know who visits the White House, and who they’re affiliated with.
There’s a quarter billion dollars more funding for National Parks, and $50 million more for the National Endowment for the Arts.
We responded, imperfectly but with heart and sincere effort, to the disaster in Haiti. Just as we wish we had after Katrina. Leadership matters most in emergencies.
Our current President readily admits when he’s made mistakes, respects the validity of arguments that he disagrees with, and has members of the opposing party in his cabinet.
The Department of Homeland Security now allocates its security spending according to threats, not by spending the same amount of money on Montana as it does on New York.
My 401k is up 30% since the current President took office.
Our President asked both corporations and individuals to reduce their electricity consumption. He asked politely.
Trains. There’s a plan to build more rails and more trains for transporting actual humans around the country.
The Matthew Shepard hate crime bill was passed.
Now, that’s just my list. These matter to me. Maybe you have your own list. Or maybe there’s only have a wishlist of features for an Apple tablet. The difference is this: Our current President is listening to what your requests are, and wants to hear them. Steve Jobs doesn’t give a fuck about you. I promise. I’m typing this on an Apple keyboard hooked up to a MacBook, and I don’t use Windows anymore, but I guarantee you that Steve Jobs is not going to get those last Marines out of Iraq.
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Free Publicity: Who do we help? - Anil Dash I really, really enjoy Anil Dash. (via gross) Rafer sez: (via rafer) Good points, all. I won’t say I’m 100% happy with the President, but I will say that I’ve moved past 50% happy - so more happy than not. It’s worth remembering amongst all the persistent and constant negativity that it’s all a political tactic: “everything Obama does is the wrong thing to do, no matter whether it’s the right thing to do” is the mantra of the opposition. Even when those policies are ones that party previously supported, they’re fighting a battle against the man and not against the meaning. Whether or not this is petty and bad for the country depends on your viewpoint, but what I will say is that it’s a perfect example of poor governance - and it’s what I’m remembering going into the coming mid-term elections. If your entire policy is “whatever he says is the wrong thing, no matter the substance of the message” it’s a pretty good bet that your policies aren’t very well thought through. |

xkcd.
…And now I feel like an idiot because I’m crying.
Reminds me of the Ikea lamp ad, except this one doesn’t scold me for feeling sad.
I remember feeling really sad when Phoenix shut down. They’d done such a good job anthropomorphizing that little guy that my heart really broke reading its “farewell transmission from Mars.”
“But for now, it’s time for me to hunker down and brave…”
I don’t know whether it’s my love of science, robots, or whether I’m just a big damn softie, but that line killed me - just slayed me alive.
I feel about the same with the above comic. Maybe it’s me examining the universe from the perspective of so much distance, maybe it’s a fear of ever feeling so lost and quite literally alone, and maybe I just have a romanticized outlook on exploration. Whatever it is, I want to hug that robot and tell it that everything will be alright.
Vision for High-Speed Rail in America by the Obama Administration.
I really hope this happens.
My life would be vastly improved by this.
hmwt:
I just want to take a minute out of my day today to say that Mr. Alan Sereboff is the nicest guy on the planet. I met him in person because he came to my work to pick me up and give me a ride to a shop he recommended when our car was broken. He had never met me before in his life and was still willing to take time out of his day to help me out of a pretty bad jam at a time when my finances were dire.
Anybody who treats this guy like anything other than the Nicest Man on Earth should be punched repeatedly in the face until dead. *cough cough
Have Motorcycle - Will Travel
Wire MacDonald, Los Angeles
Aw, man, don’t know what to say. It was my pleasure, and has been even more of a pleasure getting to know you and Gen.
+1111111111111111
Alan and I have had our ups and downs, it’s all been ups for the past few years though and I can say he’s on my top 5 list of people to call in an emergency. He will always sacrifice what he is doing to help a friend. From picking you up when your car breaks down to helping you write a paragraph about yourself because you don’t know how to write well enough. He will edit your marketing materials or help you rip out gross tiling off a 50 year old floor. He is RAD.
Oh Man, guys. Rachel, we did go through our thing, but like you said, we came out on top. You are by far one of the coolest people I have ever met and I’m grateful for you in my life. I will always marvel at your accomplishments, your courage, at who you are; you mean the world to me, my friend. And hell yes, I will always, always, be there for you.
Alan once killed a guy for me. Not even that bad of a guy either. He just made a joke and Alan just looked at me with his serious face and said “This man is going to have to die,” and I knew it to be true.
We drove deep into the desert that night, the weight of our situation weighing heavily on our shoulders. Alan knew just what to say to make it a little better though.
Every once in a while I still wake up with nightmares but Alan always picks up his phone and calms me down just by repeating the phrase “this never happened, it’s all in your mind, we don’t talk about this over tappable lines” over and over and over. Somehow the repetition always helps calm me down so I can sleep again.
My initial reaction to seeing the first tweet was ‘wow, Salinger was still alive?’ then, ‘frak I need to download Catcher in the Rye!’. The convergence of the past and the future present in one thought, of course, made me think: with the birth of the iPad came the symbolic death of the page.

… Apple …
Huge letdown.
Thank You
It literally pains me to agree with this. Edit: I could care less about the Widescreen, keyboard, video out (although that would be nice), removable battery , and yes for now, removable storage. That said, the absence of flash, open platform, a camera (we all know why it’s not there), and multi-tasking make this a big “no thanks” for me for now.
I’ve already made my views known, but I’d like to point out something very quickly on the above. We don’t know whether or not it will have flash, all we know is that a plugin wasn’t installed.
There are a number of reasons why this could be the case:
All we’re doing with the above is repeating assumptions based on a single loaded webpage during a presentation. If it doesn’t support flash, I’ll join in the disappointment, but until we know one way or another, please don’t repeat guesswork and assumptions as fact.
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Daring Fireball: The iPad Big Picture (via mikehudack) The implications of this on a business level are really astounding, and I’m honestly surprised more people aren’t talking about it. |
So earlier today I signed on Tumblr to do something fresh like like post a picture of a maxi pad and be like, “yo I already got my iPad, son!” until I realized that of course, the entire Internet had already beat me to it.
In any case, GC brought a tablet PC home not that long ago and I’ve been playing around on it ever since. From what I can tell, this computer does everything and more than what the iPad promises to do, minus the extra fees. The only major difference from what I can tell is the ability to type on the touch screen which would be nice to have on the PC. Am I missing something else major here? Why, exactly, is this a gamechanger?
Here’re my thoughts on why I’m absolutely floored (in the good way) by the iPad:
So essentially it’s everything my current laptop is, but more efficient, smaller, lighter, and faster. Throw in a bluetooth keyboard and it’s a portable office for me, since I was already planning on getting a larger workhorse machine for FCP/CS4/video/whatever else. Apple gave me the perfect machine for my lifestyle and exactly what I need and want in a portable - albeit secondary - computing device.