Wayne Coyne Creating His Own Happiness
Monday, February 26th, 2007Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips has an essay in NPR’s This I Believe series today.
Archive for February, 2007
Some coats may have fur from dogs
Saturday, February 24th, 2007The Humane Society purchased and tested 25 coats from major retailers advertised as “faux fur” and found that all of them had fur from dogs.
Three coats — from Tommy Hilfiger’s Web site ShopTommy.com, Nordstrom.com and a coat from Andrew Marc’s MARC New York line sold on Bluefly.com — contained fur from domesticated dogs. The others had fur from raccoon dogs — a canine species native to Asia — or, in one case, wolves. The single correctly labeled coat was trimmed with coyote fur, but it was advertised as fake.
L.A.S.E.R. Tag
Tuesday, February 20th, 2007Use a laser pointer to draw temporary graffiti on the side of a building. Awesome.
Pandemonium Books & Games T-Shirt Fundraiser
Tuesday, February 20th, 2007Pandemonium is an excellent sci-fi/fantasy book and game shop in Cambridge. They recently re-located from the Garage in Harvard Square to a larger location in Central Square. The move was lengthier and more expensive than anticipated which has left them in some dire financial straights. They’re running a shirt drive to stay afloat. There are two spiffy designs available for pre-order now with a new design coming each month.
Dell Ideastorm
Tuesday, February 20th, 2007Dell launched a new, Digg-like web site a few days ago called Dell Ideastorm. Users can submit ideas for new Dell products or services and have them voted up by the community. The idea with the most votes by far is pre-installed Linux, number two is pre-installed OpenOffice.org.
The Next Big Language
Sunday, February 11th, 2007Steve Yegge outlines the requirements for the next big programming language. Like some people in the comments, I note that Groovy fits the bill pretty well.
System76’s Darter Laptop
Monday, February 5th, 2007Linux laptop makers System76 have a new ultra-portable model that looks really hot. I’ve been thinking it’s about time for a new laptop and this thing is very tempting.
Album of the Week
Monday, February 5th, 2007The album of last week was Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s Some Loud Thunder.
Menino and the Mooninites
Saturday, February 3rd, 2007Below is the letter I sent to Mayor Menino regarding the handling of the Mooninite incident. I sent a similar letter to Attorney General Coakley.
Dear Mayor Menino,
I was disturbed by the overreaction of Boston public safety officials to the “Mooninite” displays on January 31, 2007. Even more disturbing is the attempt to scapegoat the two men who installed the displays, Peter Berdovsky and Sean Stevens. Charging these men with a felony is an obvious attempt to divert attention away from the incompetent handling of the event by the Boston Police Department and the City of Boston. If these men are convicted of anything more than littering it will be a gross miscarriage of justice. Please encourage Attorney General Martha Coakley to drop the case.
Similar displays were installed in nine other U.S. cities and somehow they all managed to deal with them without shutting down their major roadways or filing criminal charges. On Tuesday, January 30, the displays were discovered by a public works crew in Seattle and removed without incident. In the future, I hope Boston officials will show a similar level of common sense.
Sincerely, Benjamin Williams
Feel free to use my text verbatim or use it for inspiration if you’re a Massachusetts resident and you want to send your own letter. Here are the mailing addresses for Menino and Coakley:
Attorney General Martha Coakley McCormack Building One Ashburton Place Boston, MA 02108
Thomas M. Menino Mayor’s Office 1 City Hall Plaza Boston, MA 02201
