Month: May 2012

Bookmarks for May 12th through May 26th

26 May 2012 / esinclai / 0 Comments

These are my pinboard links for May 12th through May 26th:

(1) Gil Yehuda’s answer to Yahoo!: Why do people still work at Yahoo!? – Quora – I found this answer, reflective of self reflection and "stick-to-itive-ness" a good read.
Cronic – A cure for Cron’s chronic email problem – A cron wrapper to make things nicer. Ref page also includes pointers to other cron wrappers, a considerate touch.
Danny O’Brien’s Oblomovka » Blog Archive » NTK, Fifteen Years On – NTK on repeat. Brilliant and in keeping with, well, something.
On Diaspora’s Social Network, You Own Your Data – Businessweek – On part whither Diaspora, one part whither the social data re. Nice samples of data lockers and the Data Liberation Front @GOOG.
A story about Miles Davis and the nature of true genius – Liking the phrase "cautious courage".

Golden Age of Travel

13 May 2012 / esinclai / 0 Comments

I have, amongst my archives, a large supply of correspondence between my mother and her parents, across many years of their lives. They were great correspondents, writing at least weekly, and daily when one or the other correspondent was traveling abroad. Which, to my pleasure, I have learned my mother did quite a bit between the ages of 16 and 23 (when she was in college and then graduate school). These trips took her across Europe and into the Middle East.

From 1958, I found this enticing gem where she is writing from Tel Aviv

Just a quick letter (I’m not sure it’ll arrive before I do) to tell you that under no circumstances are you to meet me at the airport. I want to take the helicopter to finish off my trip, so I’ll telephone to tell you when I leave O’Hare, and you can come to Meigs. So please don’t come to O’Hare.

Helicopter, I think to myself? Is she an investment banker flitting from Manhattan to Jersey? No, apparently there was a regular shuttle service between the three Chicago Airports – the Chicago Helicopter Airways, which apparently used the Sikorsky S-58 to shuttle passengers around.

Fascinating.

Black Bloomsbury Books

12 May 2012 / esinclai / 0 Comments

Some years ago – perhaps on our first trip together to London – AZ and I started settling our hotel selection in the Bloomsbury area. It’s fairly centrally located and walkable to many of our favorite wanders in London, and plentiful in the public transportation for journeys further afield (including Heathrow). We’ve gradually improved out standard of hotel across the years – better pillows – finally settling for the last few trips at the Harlingford Hotel on Cartwright Gardens.

More significantly, AZ is a bloomsbury-ite of deep conviction, which makes staying the neighborhood a practical necessity. The walks to Woolf/Bell/&c sites – the AZ walking tour – are part of what makes London special for us (and, perhaps, for our friends who may travel with us, like M&V).

Of late, AZ and I have begun watching Black Books. It’s a fine sitcom, not nearly as booky as I’d hoped, but full of good humor, drinking, smoking and misanthropic output. Perfect palate cleanser from a long day.

As we watched it, the exterior shots appeared quite familiar. And is there a part of London as booky as Bloomsbury? Well, I suppose Charing Cross Rd back in the day…

As it turns out, Black Books was, partly, filmed in Bloomsbury – just down the street from the Harlingford where we stay regularly. For reference (and for Mike):

View Larger Map

Bookmarks for May 5th through May 12th

12 May 2012 / esinclai / 0 Comments

These are my pinboard links for May 5th through May 12th:

Joycean joy after library says ‘yes’ – The Irish Times – Mon, May 07, 2012 – Joyce archives available as public heritage. Too long, thanks to copyright laws, but very welcome!
Mission Statement « LiquidFeedback – Interactive Democracy – Liquid feedback is a distributed democracy tool, associated with Germany's Pirate Party in their decision making process.
Talking Smack About Junk: Shirley Clarke’s ‘The Connection’ by J. Hoberman | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books – Early play turned film loosely baed in beat culture. Also, J Hoberman.
After the Cold War: Tony Judt –
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel – review – Atwood reviews a novel I am anxious for the release of – Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies (the next on from the spectacular Wolf Hall).
Re(de)fining Print and the Resurgence of the Magazine | Hypebeast – On the potential resurgences for print. Quality, depth, subscription, diversity.

Bookmarks for May 4th from 08:15 to 11:06

5 May 2012 / esinclai / 0 Comments

These are my pinboard links for May 4th from 08:15 to 11:06:

PHD Comics: The Higgs Boson Explained – Excellent animation of some basic particle physics (and theory). Mass as evidence of a force? Craziness.
How to Make Observations like a Scientist | TIME Ideas | TIME.com – Interesting piece on observation and notetaking (via Lifehacker). Ed Vielmetti had some good bits on lab notebook use back in the day which may be useful cross references. And in line with some other current thinking, original research is behind a SAGE paywall and can be accessed for *$25* for a day. Outrageous.
QLOCKTWO BY BIEGERT & FUNK – Purty.
The truth about caramelized onions – This is a good truth. Good things take time.
5 Scientific Explanations for Game of Thrones’ Messed-Up Seasons – "Winter might be coming"
Prismatic wants to be the newspaper for a digital age – Yet another social news app, but noted as getting good results.
Taking E-Mail Vacations Can Reduce Stress, Study Says – NYTimes.com – A five day break? That would be a stiff challenge indeed

Bookmarks for April 28th through May 4th

4 May 2012 / esinclai / 0 Comments

These are my pinboard links for April 28th through May 4th:

The academic publishing racket – On academic punlishng, the backlash, and open access. Naughton.
Annoyingly good advertising – "Try it now…"
Immaterial reality – visualization of wifi networks in urban environments. pretty. unsurprisingly, some BERG involvement,
John Peel’s Record Archive –
Millennium Park Free Summer Concert Lineup – Gapers Block Transmission | Chicago – Events for the summer of a musical variety
Learn Python The Hard Way | A Beginner Programming Book – Online and offline text for learning Python.