February 2008
113 posts
Nice summary of Obama's substanceless appeal →
James Taranto in his Best of the Web column today puts into words very well something I’ve been thinking for some time but haven’t been able to express nearly so well: Such empty oppositionalism has been the dominant theme of Democratic politics at least since the emergence of Howard Dean in 2003. But there is a weird genius about the way Obama, with his soothing style and inspiring...
January 2008
18 posts
Online video sites for intellectuals →
Two more interesting online video sites - very different from the YouTube variety. These are both focused on presenting thought-provoking ideas from interesting thinkers. TED has, I believe, been around for longer, and has some great material. But Big Think is a more recent addition, and has the function-of-the-moment: the ability for ordinary users to respond and comment on the videos. Both are...
Strategy memo from Romney campaign →
A strategy memo from the Romney campaign citing figures from Florida exit polls has made its way into the blogosphere and shares a lot of my own thoughts about how Romney wins - some key points: McCain has won around a third of the vote even in states where he won overall. This means two thirds of the vote is up for grabs by Romney (at least theoretically)
Romney leads McCain in several...
Counter-view to the Tipping Point →
Just read a fascinating article about trends and how they start. It focuses on an Australian called Duncan Watts, and his assertion that the “Influencers” theory espoused by Malcolm Gladwell in the Tipping Point is wrong, and that in fact the role of very influential people in starting a trend is not disproportionately great.
Watts believes … a trend’s success depends not on the person who...
Interesting video website →
This chap just asked to be my friend (always sounds so pathetic when you put it that way) on Facebook. Looks like an interesting project - sort of like Charlie Rose without the darkened room and that leer he has when interviewing attractive female guests. One of the videos I started watching (haven’t finished just yet) was an interview with a woman who made a movie called Autism: The Musical,...
Analysing Facebook demographics →
This clever chap has figured out how to analyse Facebook’s demographics by using its advertising platform. It yields some fascinating results, such as:
considerably more people are listed as female than male in both the US and the UK (and in most other countries too)
only a small percentage of total users are under 18 - a large majority are adults (compare with MySpace). And even of the...
Clever way to analyse Facebook demographics →
This clever chap has figured out how to analyse Facebook’s demographics by using its advertising platform. It yields some fascinating results, such as:
considerably more people are listed as female than male in both the US and the UK (and in most other countries too)
only a small percentage of total users are under 18 - a large majority are adults (compare with MySpace). And even of the...
Radio hosts have to endorse Romney →
I see that Mark Levin has officially endorsed Romney in a piece on National Review Online. About time, too. These guys have been saying for weeks now that either McCain or Huckabee would be a disaster. Since Rudy’s dropped out and Paul was never in, that really leaves only Romney. So why haven’t these guys (Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity primarily, but also others) endorsed Romney...
Blogging tech →
I’m starting a new blog to follow technology stories, alongside the two other blogs I already run - one personal blog and one on politics.
Time's debate scorecard - McCain won?? →
Time’s debate scorecard for last night’s debate demonstrates some incredible mental dexterity from Mark Halperin, who gave McCain a winning B grade (Romney got a D). The following quote is the first two thirds of his blurb on McCain’s performance: As a testament to his suddenly strong position in the battle for the nomination, he showed off all of his worst traits — and still...
The media's refusal to call Mitt a front runner →
I’ve been increasingly frustrated over the last several weeks by the media’s insistence that McCain, not Romney, has been the front runner. It happened despite Mitt’s wins in Michigan and Nevada and his strong second place showing in two more states. He was leading by a wide margin in delegates until Florida, and had he captured just a few percentage points more there would now...
just finished watching the debate and think it’s pretty laughable CNN’s Bill Schneider thinks Huckabee won: was he watching the same debate?
a little disappointed about Romney’s 2nd place finish but he’ll do well next Tuesday.
Experimenting with a lifestream →
I like maintaining separate worlds in my separate blogs - one for personal stuff, one for politics and one for technology (the latter yet to be created). But I also like the idea of pulling it all together somewhere for those I feel comfortable sharing my whole world with. As of right now, I’m going to do that on Tumblr, because they have a painless way of creating a lifestream. But I have a...
From your mouth to the evangelicals' ears, pal →
This article by a non-Mormon living among Mormons makes excellent arguments for why the conservative base should be getting behind Mitt Romney, and especially why evangelicals share far more than they differ on with Mormons. This paragraph is representative: As a seeker of knowledge that is too analytical to achieve faith, of any religion, I am befuddled by the apparent animosity of evangelical...
Amazing surfing video →
This is absolutely amazing, all the more so for the way the camera is zoomed in tight at the beginning and slowly pans back to reveal what’s really happening. And the guy survived.
I haven’t found a way to embed video that doesn’t completely mess up the look of the site yet, so a URL will have to suffice…
http://youtube.com/watch?v=AlPqL7IUT6M
2 tags
Lifestreaming
I’m experimenting with the Lifestream concept here, pulling together feeds from my various blogs and flickr, Twitter and other sources over time. I’m curious to see how well this works and whether I can provide enough substance to make this worthwhile. (image courtesy of Ryo / Flickr)