Rough Drafts

One of the big problems in the New Orleans area right now–perhaps the biggest problem–is figuring out what needs doing, and how to do it. Even with accurate information, relief agencies like FEMA and the Red Cross are clearly having difficulty synthesizing that data, formulating a plan, and followin

California’s State Senate passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriages yesterday. Opposing state Senator Tom McClintock objected, saying that “Marriage is the institution by which we propagate our species and inculcate our young.” Hmm. Actually, sex is how we propagate our species, and education is h

Like everyone, I feel shock, horror, and awful fascination as I watch the news stories and photos of the disaster in New Orleans and Mississippi. But the situation also makes me angry—incredibly angry—at the federal government, whose incompetence and obliviousness to the whole situation seems increa

For all you neo-con mommies and your impressionable offspring: Help! Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed! (thanks, Scot)

I recently started up Palm Desktop after 6 or more months of not using it at all, and was treated to this massive cascade of alarm dialogs. (Click the image to see the whole cascade in all its glory.) Thank god for that “close all” button!

NPR had a chat earlier this week with the two fathers of the Internet, Vint Cerf and Robert Kahn. Interesting factoid from the interview: Cerf said that he is very hard of hearing, so that’s one of the reasons he welcomed the advent of email so eagerly.

Roughly half of Americans believe that extraterrestrial life exists–and that aliens are visiting the Earth, zooming around in saucers and secretly probing hapless human bodies. The Guardian has the entertaining details. The punchline comes in the author’s bio: Turns out he’s an astronomer at SETI. I

Virginians riot over $50, 4-year-old iBooks: Va. Laptop Sale Turns Into a Stampede “I took my chair here and I threw it over my shoulder and I went, ‘Bam,’” the 20-year-old said nonchalantly, his eyes glued to the screen of his new iBook, as he tapped away on the keyboard at a testing station. “They

Never saw this in his crystal ball… Psychic’s crystal ball burns down his flat in unforeseen blaze

From Technology Review, a summary of an interesting study on how the brain works to identify words: In the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in late June, 42 undergraduates followed instructions to click a mouse on one of two pictures on a computer monitor. Some

Agenda recently spotted in an unnamed office conference room.

This was a really fun story to work on: Mobile magazine’s list of the top 50 portable video games of all time. Read it in the August issue, or online. “Don’t know much about history? It’s probably because you spent your time dodging little red blips on a handheld football game instead of reading pag