Scattered thoughts: Politics
I've been out of touch from my blog recently, so this is my opportunity to try to correct it with a lot of little short notes. 1) It would appear that R-71 will be approved, which I am glad to see. Last year I wrote this, and I still think it's true: My own nuptials next month are lessened, when my gay friends who love each other can't get married. How difficult has it been to invite a friend to a ceremony that they themselves cannot participate in? 2) RCV died. Which is really too bad, but I understand why Read more…
More adventures in the Amazon
As part of my recent Presidential biography reading, I read River of Doubt, the story of Theodore Roosevelt descending an unexplored Amazon river after his Presidency. The book pretty well convinced me that I don't want to spend a lot of time exploring the Amazon. The Lost City of Z did the same thing. I don't think I've ever read the line, "The men were never heard from again" more frequently than in this book. Z is very well written; it tells two stories. The first story is that of PH Fawcett, an explorer who set out to find evidence Read more…
More presidential photographs
I shouldn't give the White House photographer such a hard time about the Obama halo. I remember this photo from 2002 (or so. I can't remember for sure) that lined George W. Bush up on Rushmore. Photographers love to be clever.
$5 and 2 hours. How much money could you make?
via entrepreneur.venturebeat.com Creative and impressive. A good lesson in entrepreneurship. Via MichaelPierce.
A font style for sarcasm might be the smartest idea I’ve heard in ages.
Over the internet we yell at each other with ALL CAPS and emphasize with bold and italics, but where is sarcasm? Where is the nuance, the elegance? We say it is time for a change. It’s time for a revolution. It’s time for a new font style! via glennmcanally.com Backward-italics for fonts! Brilliant! This would really help makes emails and blogs more clear.
Memo to White House photographer
I like your boss very much. But please never give him a halo ever again. Sincerely, Everyone Who Voted For Obama And Doesn't Think He Is The Messiah Posted on the White House blog.
Take it all with a grain of salt
I should add an important note to the last post. Take all those numbers with a grain of salt, as they also reflect, to a certain extent, how we spend our time. We drive more than we walk, we walk more than we ride our bikes, and we ride our bikes more than we light off fireworks. If we celebrated every Sunday with fireworks, you can bet that the risk of dying from them would be a lot higher. You also have to adjust for age. I am less likely to die from falling than someone 60 years older than Read more…
We are really bad at thinking about risk
This last week I've gotten into a discussion with a few people about vaccines and risk. I would highly recommend Wired's assessment of the situation from their last issue. But it's brought up a lot of thinking about risk. From everything I've read, it would appear that we humans are really really bad about understanding and responding to risk. Here's an important paragraph from the Wired article: Today, because the looming risk of childhood death is out of sight, it is also largely out of mind, leading a growing number of Americans to worry about what is in fact a Read more…
New Mary Holste Design website is up!
Mary's business has technically had a website these last couple years, but it's basically been a contact form, with little else going for it. After some solid work this past month, I'm happy to say that we finally have an actual website going. Check it out at MaryHolsteDesign.com. Also there are two screens below. Sometimes, the website you design may be your own. 🙂
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