Category: Gleanings

Reading and playing around with this week…

• The Online Journalism Review has a new weekly feature, discussing technological innovations happening at traditional media outlets. Hmmm, didn’t see that coming.

• The New Republic: Steven Pinker on why we curse. I loved his interview on Forum and will probably buy his new book soon.

• A.V. Club interview with Weird Al Yankovic.

• Have you tried Sidereel? Thus far the best way I’ve found to catch up on tv shows you might have missed. The legality of it? Ehhhh, best not to ask (via Tiffany Shlain).

• How about Mint? It’s my new favorite personal finance software tool after the disastrous inferno that was Wesabe (crashes, missing features, we’ll-get-to-it-someday tech support). Doesn’t have everything I want quite yet, but it’s getting there. And I have faith.

• All hail the Lit Crawl! Going down this evening.

Observations from this past week…

• 20×200, an online art auction where limited edition prints are sold via the Internet for $20 a piece, has launched. It’s the fabulous idea of gallerist and all around fabulous person Jen Bekman.

• The legendary online storytelling magazine Fray is coming back.

• WireTap observes why college newspapers are neither progressive nor racially sensitive.

• Technology Review: A new magnetic-cooling system could lead to more-energy-efficient refrigerators.

• "Pincus and the Pig" is Maurice Sendak’s klezmer take on "Peter and the Wolf".

• LA Weekly: Los Angeles was apparently an art hotbed in the late 1990s. Who knew?         

In the reading queue this week. Done quite a bit of catching up on the pot.

• NPR asks why women read more than men (via Arts Journal).
• The Nation: Hilarious piece from Barbara Ehrenreich on the enormous cost of going to college called "Welcome to Fleece U."
• LA Times: A word on reclusive writers (via Arts Journal).
• The Economist: Who’s afraid of Google?
• Cyrill Neville had an essay in Counterpunch on why he is not returning to New Orleans.
• Quorum is an amazing art collective here in the Bay Area. Check out some of this work.

• Inside Higher Ed his this look at a new report “University Publishing in a Digital Age.” (via GalleyCat).
• Are Brands Dead? (via Business Pundit).
• Confessions of a Car Salesman (via Adam Goldstein)
• NY Times: Harley-Davidson’s fastest growing market share: Women.

On my mind and in the reading queue this week…

• New York Times: Harry Potter has had limited effect on children’s reading habits.
• Bloggers and the lessons of I.F. Stone (via George Kelly).
• ‘It ain’t what it used to be’ and other myths of Los Angeles
• Forbes.com: Kindness in business, it seems, is profitable.
• San Jose Mercury News: Why are there so few female leads in kids movies? (via Social Media)
• Mule Design on How to Visit San Francico (via Andre Torrez).

• International Herald Tribune: How the Toyota Prius became the stand-in for “hybrid car.”
• Wired: The 60th anniversary of the term “flying saucer.” (via my friend Carla).
• Garrison Keillor’s pays tribute to public libraries.

• The Kinetic Art Organization is a group representing kinetic artists. Which I love.

• Huffington Post: Is Barack Obama’s campaign losing it’s heat? God, I hope not.
• NY Times article on the science of queue management i.e. how to engineer how people wait in line.
• NPR: How does the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame induction process work? Answer from Kevin: With an eye in its belly button.

World Changing discusses “Serious Games”, i.e. video games with a social or environmental mission.

• NY Times: Will Tony Blair’s legacy as Prime Minister be England’s thriving cultural climate? Even through Blair isn’t much a cultural animal himself?
• Salon takes a hard look at book pricing and what can be done to keep reading from being so friggin’ expensive.
• WireTap: Why has even progressive, politically conscious hip-hop been silent on issues of sexism and homophobia (via Jeff Chang)?
• Slate: Why women should boycott engagement rings. Written by a woman (via my buddy Eli).
• New York Magazine: Could the iPhone be the beginning of the end for Steve Jobs?
• Trivop is a new video guide to making hotel reservations. A great idea but thus far it only covers England and France (via Paul Cowles)
• A recipe for salted oatmeal cookies I will have to try out soon (via Sam Felder).