Contents

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Notable

• the dangers of burying facts

  Readers of the New York Times may have noticed an article about the alarming resurgence of polio in several areas of South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa; several immediately took to Facebook to complain that the US hasn’t been doing enough in the area of medical aid to less-developed nations. As ever, facts are rarely important when a good opportunity to flog ourselves comes up:

  Despite more than 20 years of eradication efforts, two strains of polio have spread out from northern Nigeria and northern India — both places where many Muslims have resisted vaccines because of rumors that vaccine efforts are a Western plot to sterilize them.

  Pretty sure that’s not the case, but the religious leaders in question make a very good case for selected sterilization.

  21 Apr 2009 Politics, Science! none permalink

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• mmm. . . irony

  Do you like irony? Think the AP are being douche-barrels deserving to fall into oblivion with the rest of the modern newspaper industry? Then you’ll love the Obama poster kerfuffle!
  
  The Associated Press are trying to sue LA artist Shepard Fairey for his use of an AP photo to create his vaguely cultish (and socialist realist) poster of President Obama. Farley and his lawyer, with all the facetiousness they could muster, countersued:

  Fairey’s lawyers said in papers filed at a New York court Wednesday that the artist’s use of the photograph is protected by the First Amendment as well as by fair-use laws.
  
  But the real attention-grabber was Fairey’s assertion that the AP itself violated copyright laws when it used a photo of the artist’s “Hope” poster without getting permission. In other words, he’s arguing that the AP can’t reproduce an image by Fairey that the artist himself appropriated from the AP.

  The AP’s case probably has merit (Fairey certainly pushes the bounds of fair use), and Fairey’s case is clearly a sarcastic stretch being used to make a point, but I can’t help but laugh at a wire service that clearly does not get it.

  17 Apr 2009 Politics, Technology none permalink

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• thomas frank and selective naivete

  Thomas Frank writes another treatise from the the “if you don’t agree with me, you’re mentally unstable” school of thought that’s so popular on the left in today’s Wall Street Journal, about the sins of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford (R):
  [More. . .]

  08 Apr 2009 Politics none permalink

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Humanities

• mapping america’s netflix rentals

  Great interactive graphic from the NYT mapping the top Netflix rentals of 2009 to various zipcodes in major metro areas. New York is predictable: Manhattan watches artsy crap, Jersey and Westchester County watch crap they heard was sophisticated from people at the last wine tasting, and the outer boroughs watch action flicks and minority-targeted fare.
  
  DC is predictable, too, but the patterns are far more distinct. One can actually make out a dividing line between the more affluent, mostly white suburbs (MoCo, NW DC, Arlington/Fairfax Co) and the areas with higher minority representation (NE/SE DC, PG Co, Alexandria). The dividing line seems to be along I-295 and I-395, bisecting the beltway.
  
  Minneapolis is very, very white. But you already knew this.

  11 Jan 2010 Nerdery & Sundry, Pop Culture & Memes 1 permalink

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• in india

  I’m finally settled in India, and have my first set of photos up on Flickr. There are quite a few shopping photos, as a colorful, brightly lit sari shop makes for a good test stage for iPhone photography. My cousin Rohit’s impending doo—er—wedding will make another good stage.
  
  My family has arrived at my grandmother’s house in Kothrud (suburban Pune) in stages: I flew into Mumbai just after midnight Tuesday, waited SIX HOURS for my sister arriving from Cairo, and together with her taxi’d here. My parents got here early this morning, and various relatives on my cousin Rohit’s mom’s side have arrived for the upcoming festivities.
  
  I’m a lot less overwhelmed by the influx of distant family than I was for Rohit’s brother’s wedding 7 1/2 years ago, and I think having gotten to know everyone the year I lived here definitely helped. Having an iPhone with a reliable data plan to retreat to helps, as well.

  

  23 Dec 2009 photos 1 permalink

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• a refreshed evening telegram

  I promised I’m not dead, and indeed, I’m not. It’s been eight months since I last posted (not counting my ‘not dead’ post five months ago). In that time, I tried to accomplish a number of things on the site, including integrating my Google Reader account (so I could actually start contributing articles from my iPhone’s RSS reader—Byline!), making photo posts easier, and editing the typography. I didn’t get everything I wanted out of this site refresh, but $35, three WordPress themes, hours of plugin-coding, and eight months later, I’m starting up the blog again.

  Here, you’ll find a few new features:
  1) the blog has been divided into “Notable Issues”—including politics, economics, and other societal snark—and “Humanities”—including pretty much everything else. This is part of a wider effort in the Telegram. I recognize that a good portion of my readership couldn’t care less how much I hate income inequality as a measure of poverty, or how international leaders haven’t really changed how much they hate the US. But at the same time, I have some awesome things to show these readers. Hopefully, this division will make things easier for everyone.
  2) You’ll (hopefully) see some blog posts via Flickr as I take and upload photos in India.
  3) I’ve switched the lifestream to a new codebase that looks nicer, but takes up more space.
  4) There is a new Google Reader shared list below the lifestream. Here, you’ll find the items that used to be included in my regular del.icio.us posts.

  And all of this done just hours before I leave for India. Hope you enjoy following my trip around India this year, and hope I actually manage to post something while I’m there.

  20 Dec 2009 Nerdery & Sundry 1 permalink

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