Integer-Magic Planar Graphs

I loved her first two albums, and I can not wait for the full...

Sun, 12 May 2013 18:30:29 -0400

I loved her first two albums, and I can not wait for the full release of The Electric Lady.

And you were wondering where all the cyberpunk had gone.

Mon, 06 May 2013 18:30:25 -0400

And you were wondering where all the cyberpunk had gone.

hydrogeneportfolio: Minimal Posters - Five Great...

Sun, 05 May 2013 18:30:00 -0400

hydrogeneportfolio:

Minimal Posters - Five Great Mathematicians And Their Contributions.

I would hang these, well all of them other than the newton one. Oh, and if he gets one where is Leibniz’s?

In case you do not hav the time to rewatch Star Wars every other...

Sat, 04 May 2013 18:30:03 -0400

In case you do not hav the time to rewatch Star Wars every other month, as prescribed by your doctor, let me present you with the Star Wars speedrun.

When computers bleep, bloops, and boop.

Fri, 03 May 2013 18:30:18 -0400

When computers bleep, bloops, and boop.

The Voice of Alexander Graham Bell

Thu, 02 May 2013 18:30:29 -0400

The Voice of Alexander Graham Bell:

I really hope that the fidelity on his telephone was better than this recording.

I get the distinct feeling that the defacement and destruction...

Wed, 01 May 2013 18:30:03 -0400

I get the distinct feeling that the defacement and destruction of surveillance cameras is going to become the type of game a lot of us are going to start playing soon. Probably the most fun one can have in the Panopticon.

slaughterhouse90210: “She was never going to seek gainful...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 18:30:19 -0400

slaughterhouse90210:

“She was never going to seek gainful employment again, that was for certain. She’d remain outside the public sector. She’d be an anarchist, she’d travel with jaguars. She was going to train herself to be totally irrational. She’d fall in love with a totally inappropriate person. She’d really work on it, but abandon would be involved as well. She’d have different names, a.k.a. Snake, a.k.a. Snow - no that was juvenile. She wanted to be extraordinary, to possess a savage glitter.”
―Joy Williams, The Quick and the Dead

"The intellectual justification for austerity lies in ruins. It turns out that Harvard economists..."

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 18:30:21 -0400

“

The intellectual justification for austerity lies in ruins. It turns out that Harvard economists Carmen Reinhart and Ken Rogoff, who originally framed the argument that too high a “debt-to-GDP ratio” will always, necessarily, lead to economic contraction – and who had aggressively promoted it during Rogoff’s tenure as chief economist for the IMF –, had based their entire argument on a spreadsheet error. The premise behind the cuts turns out to be faulty. There is now no definite proof that high levels of debt necessarily lead to recession.

Will we, then, see a reversal of policy? A sea of mea culpas from politicians who have spent the last few years telling disabled pensioners to give up their bus passes and poor students to forgo college, all on the basis of a mistake? It seems unlikely. After all, as I and many others have long argued, austerity was never really an economic policy: ultimately, it was always about morality. We are talking about a politics of crime and punishment, sin and atonement. True, it’s never been particularly clear exactly what the original sin was: some combination, perhaps, of tax avoidance, laziness, benefit fraud and the election of irresponsible leaders. But in a larger sense, the message was that we were guilty of having dreamed of social security, humane working conditions, pensions, social and economic democracy.

The morality of debt has proved spectacularly good politics. It appears to work just as well whatever form it takes: fiscal sadism (Dutch and German voters really do believe that Greek, Spanish and Irish citizens are all, collectively, as they put it, “debt sinners”, and vow support for politicians willing to punish them) or fiscal masochism (middle-class Britons really will dutifully vote for candidates who tell them that government has been on a binge, that they must tighten their belts, it’ll be hard, but it’s something we can all do for the sake of our grandchildren). Politicians locate economic theories that provide flashy equations to justify the politics; their authors, like Rogoff, are celebrated as oracles; no one bothers to check if the numbers actually add up.

”

- David Graeber writing on how the sado-masochistic politics of austerity was all based on an economic argument that was all based on a spreadsheet error and is now refuted, he continues on to discuss a possible solution to the austerity cycle in which some Eurozone countries currently find themselves stuck.

My goal in life is to never do something as poorly as this...

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 18:30:24 -0400

My goal in life is to never do something as poorly as this penalty was taken.

“The Internet was one of the greatest disasters to befall...

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 18:30:04 -0400

“The Internet was one of the greatest disasters to befall mankind.”

(via slate)

The Birmingham Gas Masks is my new favorite football club. (via...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 18:30:11 -0400

The Birmingham Gas Masks is my new favorite football club.

(via io9)

"A visit to an abortion clinic is often a middle class girl’s only brush with the brusque,..."

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 18:30:28 -0400

“

A visit to an abortion clinic is often a middle class girl’s only brush with the brusque, painful care that is the lot of America’s poor. The better funded go to private doctors. They get treatment that’s far more personal and less public. Proper pain killers, no protesters in sight, and your man holding your hand.

When Planned Parenthood opened offices in three shopping malls, Michele Bachmann fumed that women “are doing their grocery shopping, picking up Starbucks… and stopping off for an abortion.” Oh Michelle, if only it were that easy.

My abortion was when my politics become personal. Sure, one can march against the Iraq War. But it’s far more visceral to know that decaying politicians would force you to give birth. That 50 years ago they would have had you, you personally, die in pain and shame.

The ability to have an abortion is as important for women as the vote. It is the basis of fertile women living equal lives. As soon as I could, I raised a thousand dollars for Planned Parenthood. It felt like paying a debt.

What pulled me out of my depression was refusing to shut up. I talked about abortion with my girlfriends. With my acquaintances. With a bluntness that was probably uncomfortable and annoying in retrospect. What I found was that almost every woman I spoke to had had one too. Behind our sleek careers, our prettily painted faces, we had our blood and pain.

One out of three American women has had an abortion. But that’s a statistic, not a face. I’ve never spoken about my abortion publicly. It’s terrifying. One expects death threats, to be called a baby killer. One’s societal training is to be classy, be private, pretend your activism is on the behalf of others. Never let them see you bleed.

Never, ever tell your own story.

But silence, as much as anything, is why abortion’s such an easy target in America. Stories save lives.

I had an abortion. I’m not sorry. I’m not afraid.

”

- The always amazing Molly Crabapple talking about her abortion.

Fuck you April!

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 08:57:55 -0400

Fuck you April!

rstevens: I know these are old, but I’d wear it. (oops, fixed...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 18:30:12 -0400

rstevens:

I know these are old, but I’d wear it. (oops, fixed spelling)

So would I!

Felix Salmon breaks down Bitcoin, the currency and the commodity, and has some thoughts about the future of money.

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 18:30:26 -0400

Felix Salmon breaks down Bitcoin, the currency and the commodity, and has some thoughts about the future of money.

"Empathize, but refuse to be terrorized. Instead, be indomitable — and support leaders who are..."

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 18:30:05 -0400

“Empathize, but refuse to be terrorized. Instead, be indomitable — and support leaders who are as well. That’s how to defeat terrorists.”

- Bruce Schneier once again speaks sense. After the things that have happened what he asks of us is hard, but it is right.

12,00 Bees! Wanted to crawl out of my skin just listening to...

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 18:30:25 -0400

12,00 Bees!

Wanted to crawl out of my skin just listening to it.

(via RichardDevine)

The Wheel (by John Roberts) I wish all of my children’s...

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 18:30:09 -0400

The Wheel (by John Roberts)

I wish all of my children’s books would have been so feverishly animated and acted.

"On Wednesday, a minority of senators gave into fear and blocked common-sense legislation that would..."

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 18:30:05 -0400

“

On Wednesday, a minority of senators gave into fear and blocked common-sense legislation that would have made it harder for criminals and people with dangerous mental illnesses to get hold of deadly firearms — a bill that could prevent future tragedies like those in Newtown, Conn., Aurora, Colo., Blacksburg, Va., and too many communities to count.

Some of the senators who voted against the background-check amendments have met with grieving parents whose children were murdered at Sandy Hook, in Newtown. Some of the senators who voted no have also looked into my eyes as I talked about my experience being shot in the head at point-blank range in suburban Tucson two years ago, and expressed sympathy for the 18 other people shot besides me, 6 of whom died. These senators have heard from their constituents — who polls show overwhelmingly favored expanding background checks. And still these senators decided to do nothing. Shame on them.

I watch TV and read the papers like everyone else. We know what we’re going to hear: vague platitudes like “tough vote” and “complicated issue.” I was elected six times to represent southern Arizona, in the State Legislature and then in Congress. I know what a complicated issue is; I know what it feels like to take a tough vote. This was neither. These senators made their decision based on political fear and on cold calculations about the money of special interests like the National Rifle Association, which in the last election cycle spent around $25 million on contributions, lobbying and outside spending.

Speaking is physically difficult for me. But my feelings are clear: I’m furious. I will not rest until we have righted the wrong these senators have done, and until we have changed our laws so we can look parents in the face and say: We are trying to keep your children safe. We cannot allow the status quo — desperately protected by the gun lobby so that they can make more money by spreading fear and misinformation — to go on.

”

- A Senate in the Gun Lobby’s Grip - NYTimes.com

Gabby Giffords puts the government on notice, and with just cause.