Monthly Archives: August 2008

Here. Part of one answer: Another interpretation, of course, would be that it was just a reflection of real life — there really were dogs all over the place, doing their doggy things. Many churches in the seventeenth century employed … Continue reading →

The Times reports that Chinese police just “sentenced” two old ladies in their 70s to extrajudicial hard labor (authorities can condemn anyone to three or fewer years of labor at their sole discretion, without a judicial hearing). Their crime? Asking … Continue reading →

Chowhound — a site I very much admire but have trouble actually using — has been branching out, forming an aspirational empire in “Chow.com.” This includes the delightful feature, “Supertaster,” which is a series of reviews of mass-market food products … Continue reading →

There’s a question on AskMe that asks extroverts to describe their decision processes, whether they repeat positive thoughts to themselves, how they can just do things or “be in the moment.” I posted a response that I’m putting here just … Continue reading →

A PR firm that uses mastery of the technical rules and norms of Wikipedia to shape WP coverage of its clients. This is an evolutionary step beyond WP astroturfing efforts that have been reported in the past, which mainly consisted … Continue reading →

One thing that’s struck me about my Tokyo experience is that there are multiple endpoints for consumer culture. The bourgeois critique of consumerism in the US seems to me to rely heavily on the notion that consumer “stuff” sucks. Consider … Continue reading →

The NYT reports an overview of many, many studies of the health effects of coffee (mostly caffeinated) and finds essentially that there are no bad effects. Well, duh, right, if you’ve bothered to look into it in recent years you … Continue reading →