randomWalks

Modern Furniture Design on Metafilter.

“The nation’s largest telemarketing association yesterday said its members would comply with the government’s do-not-call list on Wednesday, even though a federal judge has ruled that the registry is unconstitutional.” Group Vows To Abide by No-Calls List (TechNews.com)

In recent Times:

• Street Scene in Gaza: An Outdoor Gallery of Gore and slide show: Street Scene in Gaza

• The Whitest Black Girl on TV

  Call it what you will — nouveau blackface, hip-hop-face, or simply an "act black" routine — the white-as-black character that Ms. Regen has perfected is fast becoming an American comedic staple. In four recent films — "Malibu's Most Wanted," starring Jamie Kennedy; "Bringing Down the House," with Steve Martin; Chris Rock's "Head of State"; and the jailhouse rap sequence in "Austin Powers in Goldmember" — ultra-white people earn laughs by using phrases like "fo' shizzle," boogieing down to gangsta rap and wearing extra-large basketball jerseys.

• The Role of the Delete Key in Blog is not about the Delete Key. It's about the desperate need to translucently "Track Changes" (as promoted by Rebecca and Cory and implemented by Brent and Mark) (which I am guilty of overlooking) and the associated unpacking of authorship; "...but the editors are committed to being available whenever I am ready to post" — huh?

• Mahogany

• Sneaker Stories: Following the Trail Of a Cultural Shift

  At one point, his editor asked him to cite the year, color and variation for every sneaker in the book. "That's virtually impossible," he told her, "but I'll do it."

Clean Sheets Erotica Magazine: Sex in the Blogosphere, 2003 reviews the new sex blogs and sees that they are good.

The very first ad for the Apple II.

When this ad ran, Jobs got a letter from a woman in Oregon, who felt it was sexist, so the ad was revised for subsequent insertions to show a woman using a sophisticated display and a man (me) with a low-resolution display. We got no further complaints.

I hardly ever get asked about music. I do, however, get asked about the 'Addicted to Love' video and my suits on a daily basis.

ABCNEWS.com : Robert Palmer Never Meant to Turn Us On

Full Posts + Comments RSS Template for Movable Type: everybody’s doing it.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti: It is really much more interesting today than in the 50's. There has been all of this mythologizing of the 50's and the Beat generation in San Francisco and so forth, but it has been wildly overdone, because it was a really depressing period, I thought, on account of the general repressive atmosphere and the political climate. The most interesting writing now is coming out of third world authors and women -- it takes hunger and passion to create great books.

invisible ink “is a weekly radio zine that features stories and commentaries from my favorite local (Bay Area) authors and my indie press heroes,” writes producer Roman Mars. I was so hoping to discover an interview with Aaron of Cometbus in the show archives, but no such luck. Shows are available in real audio at the website, and are being converted to mp3 and posted at epitonic.

Fametracker :: The Fame Audit :: John Ritter

I cheerfully tolerated Three's A Crowd, the ill-advised spin-off that was almost as ill-advised and unnecessary as AfterM*A*S*H*. I watched all the episodes of Hooperman, the before-its-time dramedy with no laugh track. And I will always sit through Hero At Large, the 1980 movie in which Ritter plays a guy who's mistaken for a superhero, whenever I catch it on cable, which is increasingly infrequently these days. (...)

[It seems] somehow fitting that Ritter should be overshadowed even in death, because he was often overshadowed, or at least taken for granted, in much of his life.

Blindness Of The Majority @ OliverWillis.Com

We (the public-at-large) *want* to be colorblind, which is at least a step in the right direction. We need to work towards the goal in which race no longer matters to anyone--although I personally doubt this will happen until cosmetic nanotech happens, and we can all be Star-Bellied Sneetches or not, at will. (Contrast the randomwalks view, in which everyone is achingly conscious of their race at all times, and how it impacts their value as a person. Black= self-image ++. White = selfimage --. Asian/Hispanic... *shrug*. Notice how people (and ESPECIALLY randomwalks) never talk about race in any terms other than black and white.) [anonymous commenter]/January 4, 2002 10:51 PM

This farewell to Galileo reminds me that someday I will love baseball.

The Conshohockon store is only the second IKEA unit to organize merchandise departmental grids. First-time customers will be directed onto the familiar IKEA trail, a traffic pattern designed to lead them through the entire store. But, with just a little familiarity, Cashman said, shoppers will be able to easily reach individual departments such as kitchen or lighting. So the new store becomes easier to navigate for the shopper who is accessorizing a room rather than organizing one from the ground up. To make things even easier, IKEA has repositioned the cafe at its new Philly metro location. With a central position that looks out across the store, it is an ideal point from which to plan a shopping excursion.

David: You'll get a free trip around the White House. You say, 'I wanna come and see it,' and they say. 'Oh yes, please come along.' I mean there aren't many people who can do that - you know, go and have a quick look around the Oval office. But that's about it. That, and maybe a restaurant reservation. And there's nothing else! Believe it, there is nothing else fame's good for.

The Daily Gullet: Going Wild in Urban America

In addition to figs, I also ate apples, passion fruit, guavas, citrus fruits, fish, seaweed, arugula, and forty or so other wild foods that I gathered and hunted in and around the town of Isla Vista, California, during my last quarter at U.C. Santa Barbara. I was living off the land in an urban setting, and "My Project," as I called it, was my preoccupation for 10 long weeks.

The Journal News, serving Westchester, Rockland and Putnam Counties in New York: Inside IKEA

Although IKEA is associated with a streamlined modern style emphasizing bright colors, bold patterns and wood a shade paler than blond, the company actually has four distinct style groups:

• Scandinavian is reminiscent of that look made popular during the 1950s, wood stained to mimic teak and the use of minimum color.
• Young Swede is geared toward a more youthful customer, either single or with a young family, with unfinished woods customers can personalize, pale wood, strong color and more daring designs.
• Contemporary reflects current trends, which now include such '70s hallmarks as minimalism, bold colors and graphics.
• Country features more traditional wood furniture, sometimes painted white, floral fabrics, and, recently, more Swedish folkloric patterns on rugs and embroidered pillows.

Mercury News: Down-to-earth designs

After testing more traditional designs, flowery fabrics and cushions, the company returned to its core product line. ``We started to dilute our identity. I would prefer that we contribute with something else,'' Simonsson-Berge said.

But Ikea did have to make some adjustments for its U.S. audience. Beds here are larger and mattresses softer. Glasses had to be bigger, too, because we like ice in our drinks. Platters and plates were enlarged to hold Thanksgiving turkey.

Ikea replaces on average 20 percent of its product line every year, said Simonsson-Berge, and the hot category right now is ``the green room.'' That's indoor-outdoor furniture. ``Whether you have a garden or not, the outdoor atmosphere is good for your well-being,'' she said. ``People want more natural living.''

Rattan and wicker have turned out to be the raw material chameleons, she said, working well with either traditional or modern decors.

The company has faced a number of scathing criticisms, including an environmental crisis in the late 80s which led to a 'green' revolution within the company, which now prides itself on innovative manufacturing processes which minimize the environmental impact the blue-and-yellow giant has. Equally concerning was the founder's connection to Per Engdahl, the notorious Nazi sympathizer. I suppose those blonde-haired-blue-eyed Aryan types all band together, but I was still shocked at the torrid underbelly of the friendly furniture chain. However, I can much more easily stomach the management of the modern IKEA chain, which is owned by the charitable, Netherland-based Stichting Ingka Foundation. What a convenient excuse for unfettered consumerism -- it's all for charity!

Epinions.com review of IKEA: Welcome to Teutonic Design Supremacy World.

Chile, Carmenere do well together.

The sun will rise briefly over the [South] pole on Tuesday, the spring equinox, for the first time in months.

Crew on Way to Rescue South Pole Worker (washingtonpost.com)

N.Va.’s Land Of Plenty Learns To Do Without (washingtonpost.com)

"It amounts to a petri dish that is incubated at an ideal temperature," said James Warfield, the Water Authority's executive officer. "We create an environment that bacteria like. If it's there, we want to know about it."

Tangier is on the temperate northwest coast of Africa, just 10 miles from Spain, across the Strait of Gibraltar, and washed in the breezes coming off both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. But to the average Tanjawi, Europe is a distant dream. Tangier, population 600,000, is extremely poor, almost entirely Muslim, and, like many African cities, growing rapidly. Tangier is a place where you see an amputee child hunched on the sidewalk with a begging cup beside the dusty stub of his truncated leg. Much of Morocco's homegrown hashish travels through the port here, and the quieter beaches outside of town are a prime launch point for destitute Africans who risk their lives, and pathetically seek First World fortune, by sneaking makeshift boats across the strait, toward Spain. Old movies don't tell the whole story.

Under the Sheltering Sky (washingtonpost.com)

This week, I met the Sharif from the Clash song.

Rock the Casbah

‘Homeless Hacker’ speaks out by Declan McCullagh.

dwell forums: unusual flooring materials

Re: Taping of Windows During Storm

As for tape, I have heard more people than not say it is not worth it. It may help with glass cleanup a little bit, but my personal experience in Florida says you could use your preparation time much better by boarding up (this takes a lot of time.... be organized before the storm); bagging your computers, electronics, and important papers/photographs/heirlooms and getting your post-storm cleanup and repair supplies in order.