Inside the Hotwheels Arch

Inside the Hotwheels Arch at the Petersen Automotive Museum

(Disclaimer: The cars are glued on.)

Inside the Hotwheels Arch

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Kirkland Christmas tree

“All creativity comes from safety.” — attributed to Abraham Maslow

“All creativity…”

Oliver and Bernadette and clover salad

Oliver and Bernadette having a salad

The original Yes Men movie is available on Hulu.

The first Yes Men movie

“The opposite of war isn’t peace, it’s creation!” — a character in Jonathan Larson’s Rent

“The opposite of war…”

Kindle and veggie juice

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Kindle and veggie juice at Le Pain Quotidien.

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Kindle, coffee and Gavin at Intelligentsia.

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Kindle at Buster’s.

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I like buying books on the Kindle because I like the idea of paying for content. I think it is important for paying for content to start feeling normal, even when the content does not come attached to something tangible (like paper). I want to be able to read high quality, expensive-to-produce content without it being laced with ads, and without having to buy it stamped on dead trees. I am not sure that ads alone could pay for that content to be produced, but even if they could, I also want content that is not at the mercy of advertisers. I want a clear, clean transaction where I pay money, and where the author’s loyalty belongs to the truth or to their art or to me.

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I also like being able to search my entire library, and being able to buy books instantly.

Kindle out on the town

At the Spider Pavilion

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Spider in the Natural History Museum’s Spider Pavilion.

Inside the Spider Pavilion

  • Neal Stephenson: In the Beginning was the Command Line
  • WikiLeaks: a wiki of leaked documents and news stories
  • WikiLeaks plans to make the web a leakier place (ComputerWorld)
  • David Foster Wallace: Consider the Lobster (Gourmet):

    “…watching the fresh-caught lobsters pile over one another, wave their hobbled claws impotently, huddle in the rear corners, or scrabble frantically back from the glass as you approach, it is difficult not to sense that they’re unhappy, or frightened, even if it’s some rudimentary version of these feelings …and, again, why does rudimentariness even enter into it? Why is a primitive, inarticulate form of suffering less urgent or uncomfortable for the person who’s helping to inflict it by paying for the food it results in? I’m not trying to give you a PETA-like screed here—at least I don’t think so. I’m trying, rather, to work out and articulate some of the troubling questions that arise amid all the laughter and saltation and community pride of the Maine Lobster Festival. The truth is that if you, the Festival attendee, permit yourself to think that lobsters can suffer and would rather not, the MLF can begin to take on aspects of something like a Roman circus or medieval torture-fest.” (more)

Favorite links of the day

Favorite links of the day