January 2009
60 posts
Squabbles Over Bankers' Bonuses and 'Wasteful'... →
Washington views life as a zero-sum game: If you win, then I lose. Our leaders, in pursuing partisan passions, forget that the whole point of economic stimulus is to make the pie larger. …
Fusion-Fission System Burns Hot Radioactive Waste →
An anonymous reader writes “A hybrid fission-fusion process has been developed that can be used in some traditional fission reactors to process radioactive waste and reduce the amount of waste…
No More Than The President Of The United States →
On further reflection, we aren’t so opposed to “fairing up” executive compensation to be more in line with our national executive. Senator Claire McCaskill might be on to something here. Let’s see…
Intertubes (read: clogged-by-commutards-tubes) everywhere in Beijing are doing their best to stymie me. I will not be defeated.
Maybe the macaroni would have been a better choice.
T-Shirt Hell Shuts Doors After One Too Many Hate... →
You’d think that someone who sells tshirts with slogans like “It’s not gay if you beat them up afterwards” and “Arrest Black Babies Before They Become Criminals” would not only be prepared for…
Stimulate It →
We all know what will pull us out of this nose dive: $1 trillion in direct stimulus. Huzzah! What is less well advertised is what sort of strings will be attached. When Paulson announced to several…
SmashLAB Appeals To Discovery Channel To “Suck... →
Here’s an innovative approach to defending a trademark. Vancouver, Canada based SmashLAB is an online design and marketing firm that launched in 2000. Everything was going fine, they say, until…
YouTube Users Lash Out At Warner Music (And... →
Shared by JDAL.
Again, music companies treating fans like criminals. Way to go, dipshits. But hey, that really helps the corporate bottom line. Except that it doesn’t. Shareholders should shit all…
Deserted office. Guess that whole “work Saturday to extend the Chinese New Year holiday” thing was just a head-fake. For which I fell.
John Williams’ “Air and Simple Gifts” on loop. Somehow offsets the shouting match going on in the office down the hall.
Is Turkey Still a Western Ally? - WSJ.com →
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It’s sure getting more difficult to argue convincingly that they are.
By Soner Cagaptay
The AKP’s foreign policy is driven by two new factors: Islam and money. From today’s Wall…
Bribes and Transparency on Chinese Holidays: A... →
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Great point: “One of the things that makes me most nervous about a market is if you never hear about corruption here. Doesn’t matter if it’s Western or Eastern. If you never hear…
How An Illegal Filipino Satellite Combated the... →
While Americans had millions of ways to watch Obama’s inauguration speech, here in China, I’m giving thanks for my one: gray-market Filipino satellite. Without it, I would’ve missed anything…
CCTV cuts broadcast of Obama address →
CCTV-News aired Barack Obama’s inaugural address live until he spoke about how “earlier generations faced down fascism and communism,” at which point the anchor scrambled to ask an analyst…
The Silencing of "silencing of dissent" →
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Sad that they feel the need to do this.
From the AP, a look at what lines were cut from Obama’s inauguration speech by some mainland Web portals:
Chinese translations of…
How Illegal Satellite Combated the Censorship of... →
While Americans had millions of ways to watch Obama’s inauguration speech, here in China, I’m giving thanks for my one: gray-market Filipino satellite. Without it, I would’ve missed anything…
This is not so much a routine so much as it is suspended animation.
Caroline Kennedy Ends Senate Dynasty Dreams... →
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No one seems to consider the possibility that she’d actually make a run for the seat.
Uh. David Paterson was going to appoint Caroline Kennedy to the Senate tomorrow, or…
Once time machines are invented, I’m going back in time to assassinate the fucker who decided that sea cucumber is food. It is not.
Early morning trip to the Beijing train station. A delight.
MarketWatch founder Bill Bishop talks career,... →
Shared by JDAL.
This guy has never been on my radar prior to this article/interview. Very interesting fellow, fascinating career, sharp perspective on the markets, China, inter alia.
…
Abandoned nuclear lighthouses of the Soviet empire →
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Spooky-cool.
English Russia is hosting a fantastic gallery of abandoned Soviet nuclear lighthouses, which were strung in the polar regions off of Russia’s northern…
Why Are We So Afraid To Fix Banks The Right Way?* →
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I’d like to see this as Obama’s first move. Because truly, anyone who is holding shares of BoA, Citi and the rest are betting: “no way would they let these guys go down the tubes.”…
Flat N All That →
Matt Taibbi on New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman: Or how about Friedman’s analysis of America’s foreign policy outlook last May: The first rule of holes is when you’re in one, stop…
It was only a minor uprising.
On Location - One Room Configured 24 Ways -... →
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Excellent article; very interesting approach to small spaces.
A tiny Hong Kong apartment is a model of flexible living, featuring sliding wall units and fold-down tables and…
Quotes Entirely Relevant to Investing 01-18-2009 →
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This is not heartening.
“There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come…
Dvorak Layout Claimed Not Superior To QWERTY →
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Without comment.
Michael Pyne sends in an article published at Reason Online 13 years ago, dismantling the entrenched myth that the Dvorak keyboard layout is a superior technology…
Wow. And then the commutards blocked the IP for my VPN.
Doomsday Weapons: a Photo Restrospective →
The portraits are so beautiful, it’s easy to forget that each subject could kill hundreds of thousands. This photo gallery, from Martin Miller, looks at weapons on mass destruction,…
Royal Mail stamps highlight classic British gadget... →
The Royal Mail’s latest line of stamps celebrating “classic British design” are just delightfully, gorgeously mundane. Some of the entries are so well designed that it’s easy to forget they…
Royal Mail stamps highlight classic British gadget... →
The Royal Mail’s latest line of stamps celebrating “classic British design” are just delightfully, gorgeously mundane. Some of the entries are so well designed that it’s easy to forget they…
VICTORY.
iTunes Wants $250 To Upgrade My Music Collection... →
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Some enterprising young person out there is going to come up with a pretty slick script to automate the identification of iTunes DRMed files, the stripping of the DRM from those…
The ducktail is getting out of control. Time for a haircut.
Meet Marc Schrenker, the MacGyver of Money Mayhem... →
Shared by JDAL.
Good, if not innovative, approach. Sadly, poor execution.
Facing divorce and a half-million-dollar court judgment, Indiana financial advisor and stunt pilot Marc…
Last night: eat buffalo wings. This morning: insert contacts. EYESONFIRE.
Housekeeping →
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Andrew Ross Sorkin is a d-bag. Q.E.D.
We don’t like to get too self-referential here on Dealbreaker but we make exceptions when it becomes necessary to call people out on their…
Sony's Complete New Line of 70+ Products... →
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Dear Gizmodo, Fuck you very much for reproducing, verbatim, a press release from Sony. You dipshits. Heart, JDAL. CC: Your mom. ENCLOSURE
Just how many new products does…
Warfighting, Peacemaking, and Hybrid Warfare at... →
Shared by JDAL.
Galrahn’s critical observation here is that the nature of the current conflicts (and future conflicts of the same type) necessitates higher levels of built-in survivability (armor,…
Ray-Bans, plaid hunting cap with furry ear flaps, Royal Canadian Navy officer’s dress jacket (db), striped scarf. Chinese teens laugh at me.
'A Gaza War Full of Traps and Trickery' →
This is the single most fascinating article to come out of the Gaza war, by far. A sample: Israeli intelligence officers are telephoning Gazans and, in good
Arabic, pretending to be sympathetic…
I am a responsible individual. Specifically, I am responsible for consuming 1/4 of this bottle of Scotch.
Gilt Speaks Exclusively with Andre 3000 →
Debuting this Monday on Gilt is André Benjamin’s (a.k.a. music artist André 3000 of Outkast) men’s line, Benjamin Bixby. Andre combines the inner prepster and rebel gentleman in his…
Search Begins for New 'Air Force One' →
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I saw an A380 parked in Singapore. Much as I hate to say so, it’s gorgeous and awesome. Wish Boeing had something really badass up its sleeve to compete.
And you…
Pocket Grappling Hook →
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WANT. NOW. Seriously, very useful addition to the gobag.
Originally designed to handle detonation and trip wires, and straight out of any Batman-wannabe’s dream, this…
So, yesterday, I unwittingly ran the air conditioning from 830am until 230am the next day, when I returned home from work. Frigid FTW.
Listening in on the echo chamber.
‘The Noises Rest’ →
Shared by JDAL.
What a great line.
“When the Silent Film Industry calls, your phone doesn’t ring. You just have to know when to pick it up.”
★