vivez sans temps mort

Building time in Berlin

Thu, 03 May 2012 18:29:21 -0700

Clock

I guess I have a thing for weird clocks.

Best Kindle Edition of Ulysses by James Joyce

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:55:47 -0700

I should start out by saying I can't deliver on the post title, but it's crazy to me that I can't find a page addressing this question on the Google. So:

-The free Kindle edition is free, has the most reviews by far, but is apparently missing text (The Ballad of Joking Jesus and any other verse printed centered on the page.) Might be badly scanned. No idea what printed edition this is based on.
-Ulysses Unabridged (Illustrated) has the text the other version lacks. It's $2.99. Has only has one review, which makes me a little uneasy. No idea what printed edition this is based on. (Update: I ended up buying this one. It doesn't have chapter breaks. Despite what the one review says, it is actually illustrated. "Proteus" has a modern-day photo of Sandymount strand.)
-Project Gutenberg has a Kindle version up that lacks chapter breaks, although it keeps the three-part structure. Based on the 1922 edition. The lack of chapter breaks is really annoying though.
-epubBooks also has a Kindle edition. Good luck finding out anything about it. It's probably fine. Why do I have to do this? Why isn't the answer obvious?

Based on what I've found so far, get the Project Gutenberg edition. Free, better than the "free Kindle edition", as good as the $2.99 edition.

If you thought that was nitpicking, Google "gabler kidd".

In categories: Arts/Literature

Slick dataviz at Strava

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:46:24 -0700

Strava is a tool I use to track my bike rides: mileage, route, speed. I record rides with GPS, upload them to Strava, comment on friends' rides - cycling is already addictive, Strava makes it more so. And I love the way they visualize your rides for the year to date.

Each black bar is a ride, the height corresponds to the mileage for the ride.

In categories: Design/Cool, Design/Datavisualization

I will figure out the need later

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 11:58:52 -0700

I want to create a timeline with Timeline by Verite.

In categories: Design/Datavisualization, Design/Web, Design/Tools, Tech/Visual

Banned books

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 10:03:02 -0700

-This site is blocked in Iran
-but available in China

In categories: Other/Politik, Tech

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 15:25:40 -0800

In categories: Arts/Visual

These kids

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 11:29:21 -0800

William has a tumblr

In categories: People/Weblogs, People/Friends

Federated, social, networks?

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 14:51:17 -0800

Google+ doesn't have permalinks for comments so you'll have to search to find Tom Coates's epic rant vs the idea of federated social networks. It's compelling in many ways but I disagree with his minimization of the achievements of email and IM. It's true that they're not a cash cow for many companies, but from a user perspective I think we're clearly better off with open email rather than stuck in a walled garden.

His rip on standardization also misses the mark for me. What's wrong with having some layers of the app stack stabilize?

On this topic, it would be really interested to understand what happened to Usenet.

In categories: Tech/Business

Check your vocab

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 20:22:58 -0800

Check the entry for indolence, probably my favorite use of one of my photos yet.

In categories: Photos

The root of suffering is desire

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 11:37:23 -0800

In categories: Music/Musicians

I made a thing

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:02:34 -0800

We were sitting in the Botanical Garden in some kind of faux-classical bit of architecture, looking at a gray sky.

"I wonder if it's sunny in the Mission ... "

isitsunnyinthemission.com

In categories: Other/SanFrancisco, People/Me

Is a thing

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:01:47 -0800

Sea-punk

In categories: People/Subcultures

2012, part one

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:35:24 -0800

1. ~~Break 9:00 on Hawk Hill~~
2. **********
3. ********
4. Write a track

In categories: People/Me

Because otherwise I will never find it

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:38:08 -0800

The Wirecutter. A product review site that only lists the best stuff in every category. (Thanks, Eric.)

In categories: Tech/Shopping

Bismuth crystals

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:13:31 -0800

How to make Bismuth crystals at home. Anybody want to do this? Bonus: they're (slightly) radioactive.

In categories: Other

A justification for income redistribution

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 13:51:51 -0800

Let's say the Los Angeles city government has an empty lot they want to get rid of. They want something that will maximize economic return, in order to provide jobs and tax revenue (it might be worthwhile to dive into what measure of economic return they should use, but we'll ignore that for now.) Additionally, they're risk-averse and need to be able to generate public support for the plan in order to make it happen.

Now, which one of these plans will they choose?

-Engaging a large, well-known real estate developer who provides a nice 3D rendering of the shiny, multi-million dollar mixed retail/residential development he'll build
-Selling off subdivided lots piecemeal to smaller developers or individual owners

They'll always choose the first. The additional administrative complexity and risk involved in the second make it a non-starter. And, in this understandable way, they make the rich richer.

The government makes a ton of decisions beyond selling land that similarly impact the concentration of wealth, and an analogous process usually holds - if we need to regulate banks, for example, who should we turn to for advice? A million small players, or a few big bankers?

So, on average, government decisions will tend to be made in concert with large existing interests, and will tend to increase the concentration of wealth. I think this problem is structurally unfixable, and provides some of the justification for redistributing wealth.

In categories: Commerce/Macroeconomics, Other/Politik

Forgot how gorgeous light during winter can be

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:40:34 -0800

In categories: Music/Mp3s

Hunky punk

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:30:24 -0800

"Some theories consider that the balance of good and evil, created in church design to remind worshippers of the narrow path they tread, was present in everything. This meant that for every good and benign creature such as a saint or an animal to signify purity, there had to be an opposite to bring out the fear of evil. In York Minster, for example, the carvings in the Chapter house, which are particularly disgusting and obscene and which were supposedly created as caricatures of the then Dean and Chapter, were put there above the seats to create an opposite to each occupant, who we might like to assume was not in fact the foul person their carvings made them out to be."

wikipedia

In categories: Design/Architecture, Arts/Sculpture

The chimera of Financial Stability

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 09:53:19 -0800

"I have never understood why Financial Stability should be an objective of public policy. Desirable, measurable outcomes of benefit to the public should be the objectives of public policy. Stability is a silly and impractical goal in a capitalist economy ... One strength of the US banking system from the 1930s to the 1980s was that failures were dealt with quickly and certainly. Foreclosed properties had to be sold by banks within two years of repossession, leading to a quick and certain reallocation of assets from failed borrowers to new owners. The FDIC swiftly and mercilessly shut down failed banks ... with forbearance now institutionalised at all levels of the US economy, we are seeing Japanification instead of recovery. And it is even worse just about everywhere else where dominant banks are much more influential."

Why I Oppose Financial Stability

In categories: Commerce/Macroeconomics, Other/Politik

Markets are built of regulations

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 11:32:09 -0800

I've been simmering on this point for ages, waiting for someone to speak my mind for me. Regulations are not just an imposition on markets - the choice is not between free markets and regulated markets. Markets are constructed by multiple sets of regulations, beginning with property rights. The regulations we choose have consequences for who can enter markets, how those businesses can operate, and on what market outcomes are.

Whenever someone argues for de-regulation, they argue for removing a small piece of this whole edifice. They aren't arguing for truly free markets, they're arguing for a specific rule change that will have (usually clearly identifiable) winners and losers. These same people will often later be found to be advocating for greater regulation in some other area, in the name of punishing wrongdoers.

My first economics class made the simple point that rent control artificially limits the supply of housing, creating shortages. What was never mentioned in that class was that that in many cities regulations make building houses, especially low-income housing, nearly impossible. Ending rent control without making it possible to build more housing means that we are choosing to make housing more expensive, period.

That's why it's so laughable when banks kindly request the government to stay out of their business. Financial markets above all grow out of the regulations that define them.

read what sparked this rant at rortybomb

In categories: Commerce/Macroeconomics, Other/Politik

San Francisco hillside

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 15:45:17 -0800

jenmaravillas.com

In categories: Other/SanFrancisco, Arts/Visual

Which cuisines are better in NYC/SF?

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 09:17:52 -0800

Suspiciously even-handed

In categories: Other/SanFrancisco, Other/Food&Drink, Other/NYC

System D follow-up

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 13:29:50 -0700

Alan Furst described it as a kind of romantic improvisation in impossible circumstances. Foreign Policy says it's another phrase for the black market, and that it may be the future. The article cites sources claiming:

"... half the workers of the world -- close to 1.8 billion people -- are working in System D: off the books, in jobs that were neither registered nor regulated, getting paid in cash, and, most often, avoiding income taxes."

"... people in the European countries with the largest portions of their economies that were unlicensed and unregulated -- in other words, citizens of the countries with the most robust System D -- fared better in the economic meltdown of 2008 than folks living in centrally planned and tightly regulated nations."

In categories: Commerce/Macroeconomics, Other/Politik

Just following orders

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:08:20 -0700

I wanted to share this in Google Reader, but that's gone now. Anyway:

PBA Official 1: Okay, we've sent text messages to at least 400 delegates, and they're all going to come to court tomorrow to protest the arraignment of our brother officers. We've called this meeting to decide what signs they should hold up for the myriad news cameras that we expect to be there. I'll open this up to the floor - any ideas?

PBA Official 2: How about 'Just Following Orders'?

In categories: Other/Politik

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:27:51 -0700

In categories: Photos/PhotosIWishI'dTaken