Coyote Tracks

"With Android, you’re not learning an unfamiliar but logical methodology; you’re adapting to its..."

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:59:47 -0700

“With Android, you’re not learning an unfamiliar but logical methodology; you’re adapting to its quirks. There’s a difference. FedEx will happily deliver your package anywhere across the country, overnight: you just have to fill out a form according to the procedures they’ve set. By contrast, Android’s UI is often like the FedEx driver who refused to leave a package on your doorstep until you removed the garden gnome with “those mocking, judgmental eyes.””

- Andy Ihnatko on the Google Phone

Deserted NASA-JPL Trailer Photo Set

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 10:05:13 -0700

Deserted NASA-JPL Trailer Photo Set:

Although, given that it’s apparently still powered, not truly abandoned

"[President William Howard] Taft was, perhaps, too often the butt of unfair jokes. Despite his..."

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:54:51 -0700

“[President William Howard] Taft was, perhaps, too often the butt of unfair jokes. Despite his legendary bulk, he was an energetic man; when governor of the Philippines he cabled Secretary of War Elihu Root, “Just rode a mule a hundred miles over the mountains. Feeling fine.” Which of course prompted Elihu Root to ask earnestly by cable, “Glad to hear you are well; but how is the mule?””

- The Edge of the American West

Telescopic Text

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:09:39 -0700

Telescopic Text:

“I made tea.”

Space travel could get a little, um, awkward

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:46:05 -0700

Space travel could get a little, um, awkward:

“With the space shuttle set to retire in 2010, and its replacement not ready until 2015, the United States had been planning on hitchhiking to the International Space Station for a few years. That may be a bit of a problem now.”

"No less an authority than Kiefer Sutherland recalls that Bambi was the first film he ever saw and..."

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:06:33 -0700

“No less an authority than Kiefer Sutherland recalls that Bambi was the first film he ever saw and that “it taught [him] about—I guess on a broad scale—sexuality.” Getting into a bit more detail than may be necessary, Sutherland admits: “I was in love with Thumper’s girlfriend from the time I was seven until I was ten. She’s got all that eye shadow on and she’s looking real good.” Any movie that can make a furry out of a man like Jack Bauer is strong stuff.”

- Ari Kelman, The Edge of the American West

"My sense is that western culture would be a damn sight poorer today if John Lennon had been forced..."

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:29:17 -0700

“My sense is that western culture would be a damn sight poorer today if John Lennon had been forced to carry a goddamn BlackBerry.”

- Merlin Mann

"Humans suffer from bright’n’shiny complex, where we’re titillated by the new. Think of it like this:..."

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:46:32 -0700

“Humans suffer from bright’n’shiny complex, where we’re titillated by the new. Think of it like this: have you actually done anything with that last domain you bought? No. You had the idea for it on Tuesday morning and you got all fired up, so you bought the domain the moment you got in to work. At lunch you furiously doodled your design in your notebook, fully intending to get home and get started on the HTML/CSS, and then you got home… and watched Lost. Take the bright’n’shiny complex and apply it to your entire group, where everyone is prioritizing their day by their particular inspiration, and you’ll realize it’s shocking that we ever collectively get anything done.”

- Rands In Repose

NY attorney general gets more ISPs to block alt.* newsgroups

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:26:15 -0700

NY attorney general gets more ISPs to block alt.* newsgroups:

What is with New York and grandstanding attorney generals? Even California doesn’t do this and we have frickin’ Jerry Brown as AG.

BBC: Teenager finds bat asleep in bra

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:13:18 -0700

BBC: Teenager finds bat asleep in bra:

“Abbie Hawkins, 19, of Norwich, had been wearing the bra for five hours when she plucked up the courage to investigate.”

"The White House is scrambling to contain a diplomatic fiasco after an official briefing book..."

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:10:46 -0700

“The White House is scrambling to contain a diplomatic fiasco after an official briefing book distributed to reporters at this week’s G8 summit contained a not very flattering description of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. We may have taken a few shots at Berlusconi around here, but obviously this is no way for the White House to treat the U.S.’s staunchest European ally. And if they must, at least do it right and make fun of his tan.”

- Joshua Keating, FP Passport

"An Edison bulb, in a velvet-fronted panel set behind a hand-blown ruby glass dome mounted in a brass..."

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 13:45:48 -0700

“An Edison bulb, in a velvet-fronted panel set behind a hand-blown ruby glass dome mounted in a brass fitting with giant steel lugs, is lit. A hand-painted warning is now visible: The steampunk is nearing excruciating weariness and tedium; son, kindly seek an alternative aesthetic.”

- Andy Ihnatko (on Twitter)

Cabaret Brewed Chocolate

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:07:25 -0700

Cabaret Brewed Chocolate:

“Can a new chocolate beverage replace your cup of coffee?” the website asks. “No. Don’t be an idiot,” I reply, but I’m interested in trying this anyway.

"You could blame consumerism as one thing that’s happening in this film, but there’s a..."

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:23:43 -0700

“You could blame consumerism as one thing that’s happening in this film, but there’s a million other things we do that distract us from connecting to the person next to us and from furthering relationships, which is truly the point of living. I loved the idea of WALL·E finding something real. He was fascinated with the idea of living. And what’s the point of living? Something real. He was a manmade object with something real inside him. And he found something real while surrounded by manmade objects. That just was poetic for me.”

- Andrew Stanton in Christianity Today

"Let’s ignore, for the moment, the absurdity of Florida’s paying a premium price to a..."

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:13:04 -0700

“Let’s ignore, for the moment, the absurdity of Florida’s paying a premium price to a company that has done hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars in damage to the state’s most precious natural resource, draining swaths of the Everglades and polluting the rest with fertilizer runoff. Instead, let’s get in touch with our inner libertarians and fulminate about this deal’s biggest outrage: it rewards a company that has been gouging American taxpayers and consumers for the better part of a century.”

- The Atlantic, “A Not-So-Sweet Environmental Victory”

Rumplo

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:40:52 -0700

Rumplo:

A meta-catalog of “artist T-shirts” submitted by users from stores around the web.

"The US does not know whether to tax energy or subsidise it, promote domestic oil production or..."

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 10:26:44 -0700

“The US does not know whether to tax energy or subsidise it, promote domestic oil production or forbid it, treat ExxonMobil and Chevron as champions or pariahs. So it does all of the above.”

- Clive Crook (FT.com)

Roth 2000XR Motorboard

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 15:27:49 -0700

Roth 2000XR Motorboard:

An electric scooter positioning itself against the Segway: “personal transportation” for urban areas. (I kinda want one — but would like to test ride it first.)

Lackadaisy

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 10:57:31 -0700

Lackadaisy:

Funny animal comic in Prohibition-era St. Louis, in glorious sepia.

"It’s somehow less amusing than it should be…might sum up “The Love Guru” in..."

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 10:03:24 -0700

“It’s somehow less amusing than it should be…might sum up “The Love Guru” in its entirety but only at the risk of grievously understating the movie’s awfulness. A whole new vocabulary seems to be required. To say that the movie is not funny is merely to affirm the obvious. The word “unfunny” surely applies to Mr. Myers’s obnoxious attempts to find mirth in physical and cultural differences but does not quite capture the strenuous unpleasantness of his performance. No, “The Love Guru” is downright antifunny, an experience that makes you wonder if you will ever laugh again.”

- A. O. Scott (The New York Times)