Category: Odds & Endz

• 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).

On my mind this week in Ann Arbor

• David Kipen weighs in on the book review v. blogger (not really a) controversy (via TEV)
• Roger Ebert pays tribute to Studs Terkel on Terkel’s 95th birthday.
• My friend Matt Haughy essays on 7 ways to run a successful online community. I’m going to need to remember these (via Kottke.org).
• Jewish Daily Forward: “Judaism and the culture of outburst.”

• The Guardian UK: What the heck is the matter with men? (via my friend Eli)
• I’m going to try and check out the Urban Fairie Doors while I’m here in town.

• NY Times: A new poll finds that a majority of both Democrats and Republicans believe global warming is a threat. At last.
• Huffington Post: Are book review sections in newspapers going extinct? (via BB&H)
• Roger Ebert’s first pictures and comments since his stroke.
• Business 2.0: Startups to watch in 2007 (via Get Satisfaction).
• Playbill profiles the longest runs in Broadway history
• SF Gate: Green Cab is a new taxi cab company based in San Francisco using only hybrid cars.

• NBC’s controversial airing of excerpts of Cho Seung-Hu’s video confession before killing 33 people at Virginia Tech last week.
• World Changing: Why Earth Day has served its purpose and must be put to rest.
• Salon.com: A group of Southern Chefs is raising money to rebuild the New Orleans house and kitchen of Willie Mae, the queen of Creole cooking.
• Times Online: Will the May 5 release of Spiderman 3 be the salvation Sony needs (via Arts Journal)?
• New Statesman: Is there such a thing as “authenticity in popular music? (via AL Daily).
• Variety: Last week, Dave Chappelle performed a 6-hour stand-up comedy set, the longest in the history of the Laugh Factory, where the feat took place (via Kottke.org).
• A short history of the pocket hankerchief (via AL Daily).
• Information Week: Rolling Stone magazine is planning a social network (via Largehearted Boy)
• The 50th San Francisco International Film Festival begins this week

• Salon: Korean students at Virginia Tech fear racist attacks after identity of shooter is revealed.
• NY Times: Hilary Clinton’s Wellesley College classmates reflect on what her presidential run means for their generation of women.
• The city of Sao Paulo, Brazil (population 11 million) has banned outdoor advertising, including billboards and all signage over a certain size. I’d like to see that the morning after (via Boing Boing).
• LA Times: Kirsten is slated to play Debbie Harry in a Blondie biopic. Fits are being thrown.

• LA Times: Thanks to global warming, a new study predicts that drought may become a permanent condition in the American Southwest. Super. (via Sam Felder).
• Where do companies get their names? I could read these all day (via Kottke.org).

• New York Magazine: What does making the cover of the New York Times Book Review say about the hopes for your book (via TEV)?
• Bookslut interview with New Yorker political writer Hendrik Hertzberg (via Eat the Press).
• Pranks.com, a blog dedicated to “pranks, hoaxes, culture jamming & reality hacking.” (via Laughing Squid).

• NY Times: Beyond Universal Studios and the Hollywood Sign, Los Angeles wants in on the cultural tourism business (via Personism).
• Slate: If the CD is dead, why do some many companies want in on the CD business?
• Chronicle of Higher Ed: Where do college truisms like “Publish or Perish?” or phrases like “Boola Boola” come from (via AL Daily).
• Book Forum profile of Ralph Ellison (via AL Daily)
• Green Drinks is a worldwide happy hour for the environmentally minded (via Steve Rhodes)