randomWalks

Did you know you have a clothespin on your shirt?

In an outstanding series on weblog usability (30 days to a more accessible weblog), Mark Pilgrim argues convincingly that web designers should not have links open new windows by default. I agree without reservation.

New York Times: Shameless Secrets of the Chefs

Yes, culinary snobs of the world: Coca-Cola has nuance. And, if you are to believe some of the country's top chefs and take a peek into their pantries, so do Heinz ketchup, Werther's caramels, Hellmann's mayonnaise, Hungry Jack potato flakes and other pedestrian ingredients. You may have even had them in a $30 entree without knowing it.

Wired News: Routes of Least Surveillance

The demonstrated tendency of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) operators to single out ethnic minorities for observation and to voyeuristically focus on women’s breasts and buttocks provides the majority of the population ample legitimate reasons to avoid public surveillance cameras.

This page on melting metals in a domestic microwave describes a technique by which one could for example cast silver jewelery at home.

As seen on slashdot, the future of Internet radio just might be decentralized “swarming” networks of p2p hosts which broadcast copies of the stream they’re enjoying. streamer: pirate radio for the digital age; OPENdj: GPLed swarming streamer for Linux. Thanks to Cory for both of these.

Everyone has linked to these outstanding satirical propaganda posters, but somehow you haven’t seen them yet.

I’ve never heard of Aloha, but on the strength of this review I sure will try: Sugar high (Metro Times Detroit).

drylongso is “news, political and cultural commentary, fiction, poetry, essays, interviews, contests, and events for thinking people of color.”

Dear Dude,

    I like my job. How is the move going? I know you can email from work, a word or two. I hope the weekend isn’t too stressful. Call us if you need to talk!
    We’re excited about the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. The Silk Road, it will be great. Look at the Food section from this week: The Flavor Of the Silk Road. Just like we always talk about!
    Listen, this question might change your life: have you heard Aim’s Hinterland? Hello to E.

            Yours,

            Adam

The Washington Post on community gardens.

The overriding thing the committee concluded is that, given that we know acrylamides are cancer-causing in animals and probably in humans, it is intolerable that they are in foods at the levels found and we have to find a remedy. But there is not enough information to make any consumer recommendations because we need more research.

sfbg.com on John Sayles' Sunshine State.

wood s lot reverentially observes the recent passing of Beat poet, novelist, and Zen priest Philip Whalen. Two links I may and may not have stolen from the woods:

• Philip Whalen chapbook: Mark Other Place
• Jack Magazine on the passing of Philip Whalen

Good bands make good live albums. Bands that are not so good can make albums that initially sound okay, but which become increasingly sterile the more you listen to them. Here are some of the great live rock and/or roll albums.

If I may call your attention to Warblogger Watch, in part to note the stylish (but too w i d e?) redesign, but mostly because it’s the first and best site bold enough to flip the script and pay the warbloggers the only kind of attention they deserve.

Adam is committed to collaborating with other relevant initiatives
Adam is going to kill you
Adam is a singer, songwriter and pianist whose music embodies the fierce and tender spirit of Women's Music
Adam is renowned for his fine buildings, both public and private
Adam is unable to respond at this time
Adam is also active in the field of acting
Adam is the ideal human male with his rippling muscles and elegant contours
Adam is almost ready
Adam is never as funny and clever as it thinks and/or hopes itself to be
Adam is on TV, Wednesdays 7pm
Adam is famous
Adam is a polo shirt wearin sleep mo fo
Adam is a square

Adam is a complicated man

NPR has revised its linking "policy." The revision seems like an improvement, but it's not -- it's just as bad as it ever was. NPR still maintains that people who link to NPR's site require permission -- the new policy merely conditionally grants that permission.

I'll say it again: The most harmful lie you can tell about the Web is that permission is a prerequisite for linking. There is no copyright interest in controlling how people reference your work.

I'm sending fresh mail to Jeffrey Dvorkin, NPR's ombudsman, to tell him what I think of this. I recommend that you do the same. I will also be withholding my donation from NPR until this policy is reversed. Much as I hold public radio dear, NPR's policy has the potential to irreparably damage the Web. I would give up a thousand NPRs for the WWW.

The math doesn't even work anymore.

The Post on Hip-Hop and politics; the Times on Hip-Hop and theater.

You don't know anything except what's there for you to see. An act. Lies. Device. Not the pure heart, the pumping black heart.

When I wrote that play Dutchman, I didn't know what I had written. I stayed up all night and wrote it, went to sleep at the desk and then woke up, and looked at it and said "what the [f---] is this?" And then put it down and went to bed.

"I get into a zone," says Mr. Ince. "I can see them bopping their heads as they walk past. They don't see me, but I can see them hearing it. It's beautiful."

Hear that blue jay? Totally wrong.

Mr. Chin met his assailants, Ronald Ebens, a supervisor at Chrysler, and his stepson Michael Nitz, who had recently been laid off, at a strip club in Highland Park, a small blue-collar city surrounded by Detroit, where Mr. Chin was having his bachelor party.

A dispute started inside the club about a stripper. Then a dancer heard Mr. Ebens hurl profanities at Mr. Chin, blaming him for the loss of American jobs. Moments later, according to court documents, Mr. Ebens and Mr. Nitz chased Mr. Chin down the street and crushed his skull with a Louisville Slugger.

Asian-Americans called the killing a hate crime. But a judge ruled the death was no more than the tragic end to a barroom brawl. The two pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter, and as part of the plea agreement, were sentenced to three years of probation and $3,780 in fines and court fees.

"It sent a chilling message that it didn't matter if you worked for American companies and spoke English without an accent, you still weren't regarded as a red-blooded American worthy of rights," said Frank Wu, a law professor at Howard University and author of "Yellow: Race in America Beyond Black and White."

"The tragedy marked our political coming of age," said Helen Zia, a writer who helped found American Citizens for Justice in response to the Chin killing. "But we also need to consider where we go from here."

We're talking here about a man who's held a responsible job with the same company for 17 or 18 years and his son, who is employed and a part time student. These men are not going to go out and harm somebody else. I just didn't think that putting them in prison would do any good for them or society.

It didn't take us long to realize we had a huge hit. In fact, it took less than 24 hours. The first day Today's Papers appeared, we got a message from Bill Gates asking when we were planning to make it available by e-mail. (...)

Scott Shuger was, in a way, the first complete Internet journalist, in that the Internet was essential to both his input and his output, and the result was something new and useful that couldn't be done before. Without the Internet, Scott couldn't have read five newspapers from across the country—and done it before the paper editions were even available.