Dan Grobstein File

• LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) 1/1/13, 8:40 AM
  Let's not let 2013 begin without noting how brazenly the GOP tried to steal
  the 2012 election. 
• Emily L. Hauser (@emilylhauser) 1/1/13, 6:53 PM
  Do
  you know what 150 yrs is? That's two old ladies, back to back. That's
  nothing. Two old ladies ago, people owned other people as livestock
• The
  Big Lie finally gets called out on Sunday morning
• felix salmon (@felixsalmon) 1/3/13, 5:58 PM
  The New Yorker wants someone to write science & technology blog
  posts. You can't possibly
  do worse than the last guy.
• RT @AtlanticCities: In 1940, there were 1,676 toilets in
  NYC subway stations. Now,
  there are 77
• Does
  Lead Paint Produce More Crime Too?
• Why
  Software Patents Should Be Banned: A Case Study
• Someday,
  Paywalls Are Going to Kill Blogging
• Editorial | Sunday Observer
  So
  Many Snapshots, So Few Voices Saved
  By VERLYN KLINKENBORG
  We keep lots of images but rarely voices, yet the sound of people we
  were close to can bring back an extraordinary intimacy.
• Beate
  Gordon, Feminist Heroine in Japan, Dies at 89
  By MARGALIT FOX
  Ms.
  Gordon almost single-handedly wrote women's rights into the
  Constitution of modern Japan at 22, and then kept silent about it for
  decades.
• I Was Misinformed
  Wanted:
  Mausoleum w/Wi-Fi, Cable, River Vu
  By JOYCE WADLER
  For a 65th birthday, a first burial pitch.
• Berlin
  Elephants Feast on Tasty Christmas Trees
  By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
  Elephants at the Berlin Zoo finally got a chance to tuck into their
  Christmas dinner: A feast of donated pine trees.
• The
  new center
• TBogg (@tbogg) 1/6/13, 10:18 PM Just going to throw this
  out there: Maybe if Republicans wanted to pick the SecofDef, they
  should have picked a better presidential candidate

Go Fly A Kite. Boehner Letter, Frank and Ernest
A friend forwarded this:

I’d
never known that kite flying could be so graceful (thanks also to beautiful
camera work). If you’re in a rush, you don’t have to watch all 5+
minutes of it, though I was glad I did: he continues to introduce new
touches, and ends it very nicely. This man (Ray Bethell), a resident of
Vancouver, B. C., is apparently one of the most famous kite flyers in
the world.

John Boehner didn’t
really write this holiday letter, but I wish he had.

A history of end-of-the-world
predictions, from The
Economist.

The
psychology of social networking.

Daniel Dern writes:
Still freshly funny, after all these years (now done by Tom

Thaves, son of creator Bob Thaves). 
E.g. today’s, http://www.gocomics.com/frankandernest/2012/12/21

Also, per http://frankandernest.com/faq.html
lots of interesting

facts about the strip, e.g.

* First translation of syndicated comic strip characters to 3-D format.

* First availability of an interactive version of a strip first
published in the newspaper.

* First searchable database of syndicated cartoons.

Political Briefs:

• Al
  Qaeda Disbands; Says Job of Destroying U.S. Economy Now in Congress’s
  Hands

Dan Grobstein File

• Awesome
  Kwanzaa: A Made-Up Holiday for a Made-Up Country
• The
  Whole Nine Yards: Derivation
• The N.R.A.
  at the Bench – NYTimes.com
  

  By LINDA
  GREENHOUSE

  The
  National Rifle Association has taken an increasingly active role in
  judicial nominations.

• College costs
  way too much. Our tuition was much more reasonable. How can you learn
  to the vest if your ability and work? Crushing debt does keep the
  proles in line though. The growing role of class in academic success
  has added to fears over evidence that suggests low-income Americans
  have lower chances of upward mobility than counterparts in Canada and
  Western Europe.
  NYTimes: For Poor
  Strivers, Leap to College Often Ends in a Hard Fall
• A
  Question From the Staff of the Mother Jones Irvine Bowl.When
  did newspapers start using sponsor names when referring to bowl games?
• Colin Millar (@Millar_Colin)
  12/28/12, 2:56 PM
  RIP journalism, 1605-2012 pic.twitter.com/Qfw13i52

I am not in the habit of posting links to funny cat videos, but this one,
from my wife, is hysterical.

Daniel Dern notes: The
Man Who Invented The Bar Code. (Or the ideas and tech that
turned into it…)
Interesting keywords/items in this include "Boy scouts," Morse code,"
"the mob," "elevator music," "lines in the sand." Sadly, he and his
partner only got $15,000 forthis particular invention…
(I'll forgot the obvious thought about what his gravestone will
have as part of the marker…)

The
Tories and the Republicans are scoundrels. Both are
functionally insane.

Political items of note this week:

• More
  Republican Corporate CEO Hypocrisy
• A
  Sure Thing: Bill Clinton's Third, Fourth, And Fifth Terms As
  President 
• Nationalization
  Works

Dan Grobstein File

• Tests Call
  Mislabeled Fish a Widespread Problem in New York
  By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
  The
  conservation group Oceana said that genetic analyses showed 39 percent
  of nearly 150 samples of fresh seafood collected from 81 establishments
  in the city were mislabeled.
•  Show
  Me the Money
  By JOE NOCERA
  When college sports executives get together, it?s not the athletes or
  their educations that they talk about.
•  The
  God Glut
  By FRANK BRUNI
  A West Point cadet's experience suggests our lax observance of the line
  between church and state.
• Climate change
  causing drought in states that don’t believe in climate change 
• David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt)
  12/12/12, 8:45 PM
  !
  MT @Redistrict: If every state awarded Electoral votes by Congressional
  district (a la ME & NE), Romney would have won, 276-262.
• This
  happens the same way "austerity" has happened and will continue to
  happen: in a slow, steady process of downwardly revised expectations,
  stern lectures about your moral failings (Live within your means! Work
  harder! Shop more!), and Tough Choices that screw you continuously but
  incrementally.
• I either run into people whose
  idea of history is World War II or people who think that
  "Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia." Young adults don't even
  remember Reagan,
  never mind what the country was like when we had the massive middle
  class expansion after the war. "History Channel" makes it worse.
  
  

Richard Dalton found this: Newspapers
Are Losing $13 Of Print Revenue For Every $1 Of Digital Revenue,
and notes, "More bad news—or maybe the same
bad news."

From the Cape Cod Times,
Daniel Dern notes: "An internal review has
found that one of our reporters wrote dozens of stories that included
one or more sources who do
not exist."


Dan Grobstein File

• How
  big a deal was the Bin-Laden raid? Pretty big.
• "Besides
  his brother, Mr. Kest is survived by a sister, Amy Kest; his parents,
  Martin and Ruth Kest; his wife, Fran Streich; and a son, Jake
  Streich-Kest. A daughter, Jessie Streich-Kest, was killed in Brooklyn
  on Oct. 29, when she was struck by a falling tree during Hurricane
  Sandy." sad.
  Jon Kest, Community
  Advocate in Nunity Advocate in New York, Dies at 57
• Thanks for Not
  Sharing

One from Dan
Dan Grobstein sent one item this week: The Guardian (@guardian) Watch a
timelapse video of the Earth as seen from the International Space Station

Richard Dalton notes: Apple
Crushed Microsoft In This Analysis Of Black Friday Shopping

Dan Grobstein File

•  Fire
  When Ready: Bain Capital and Clear Channel
• Sarah Steiner (@Sarahgoat)
  11/23/12,
  9:37 AM
  RT @pourmecoffee:
  Wow, stores do everything possible to accomodate big crowds wanting to
  buy crap. We should totally try that with voting
• Hope
  this isn't true: California
  Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez  outlines
  what he plans to do with his supermajority: nothing.

There's a new Jon
Carroll cat column. Also, a friend alerted me to cat
hair jewelry.

Daniel Dern notes a British
list of sci-fi movies, which includes at least one that's
already opened (and closed) here, but is still an interesting look
ahead for the most part. Also, he found more proof of how much fun
reviewers have when doing a really
nasty review. This is the first time this reviewer has given
a restaurant no stars and a "poor" rating.

Dan Grobstein File

• GuardianUS (@GuardianUS)11/9/12,
  12:25 PM
  MAP: Plotting the spike in hate speech on Twitter
  following Obama's re-election trib.al/g3GBNU
• Roger Ebert takes a vacation in Paris and discovers how the
  French
  Cinema can save us from cultural amnesia. http://t.co/MTUHDklS
• M.I.T.
  Basketball Begins Season Ranked No. 1, and It's Not a Mathematical
  Error 
• Herman Waugh: At
  97, He Has a Book (or 2) Left
• Isaiah
  Sheffer, 76, a Founder of Symphony Space, Dies
• Tim O'Reilly (@timoreilly)
  11/16/12,
  9:09 PM
  Must read: Why Cell Phones Went Dead After
  Hurricane Sandy mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-1…

It isn't just me taking it easy this week. My only submission: Daniel Dern finds an amusing video he calls Hobbits on
a Plane.

Which isn't to say I'm not obssessed with the election; I just choose not to write about it.

Dan Grobstein File

• How
  to: Eat a triceratops

• My
  Plan for America, by @DavidOAtkins

Joss Whedon has made a "Romney" Ad: Joss
Whedon ‘Endorses’ Mitt Romney?

Dan Grobstein File

• Steven Greenhouse (@greenhousenyt)
  10/27/12
  9:01 AM
  One byproduct of Citizens United: More & more
  bosses are telling their workers how to vote. My Story.
  nytimes.com/2012/10/27/us/…
  

The
geekiest license plates of all time.

Daniel Dern found the Romney
vs. Big Bird ad.

Sherry Grobstein notes a Boston
Globe column by James Carroll that begins "Newly elected presidents
can be dangerous. Untested and inexperienced, they can act in the name
of national security to soothe a personal insecurity. Appearing tough,
they think, can make them tough." It ends up being an endorsement of
Obama. But then the only state as blue as California is Massachusetts.
   
Dan Grobstein File

• New
  'Super PACs' Alter Landscape for House Races
• Dick
  Cavett: Can You Stand Some More Stan? (Laurel)