-
Application wanted
Some time ago I read that Bill Clinton (starting in his younger days) would try to meet as many people as possible in a day, and then at night write down the particulars of everyone he met. It would be nice to have some sort of visual web app to do that. It would allow the user to note all of the relevant details about a person, and also visually show his connections to existing contacts, companies and concepts/entities. It can be done manually in Visio, but that’s hardly a workable solution. Does anyone know of any products that do this?
If not, then it goes on the list of stuff to build.
-
I bash John Edwards
Everyone should check out this Bob Schrum piece in Time Magazine (h.t. TDAXP).
Edwards had told Kerry he was going to share a story with him that he’d never told anyone else—that after his son Wade had been killed, he climbed onto the slab at the funeral home, laid there and hugged his body, and promised that he’d do all he could to make life better for people, to live up to Wade’s ideals of service. Kerry was stunned, not moved, because, as he told me later, Edwards had recounted the same exact story to him, almost in the exact same words, a year or two before—and with the same preface, that he’d never shared the memory with anyone else.
It’s always sad when people are actually worse than you think they are. Then again, the Edwards’ (sp) have run for president twice while they have young children, which should disqualify them in the first place.
-
Thursday link roundup
- Ala. Officials Probe ‘Monster Pig’ Saga
State wildlife officials said Wednesday they want to know how the huge hog dubbed “Monster Pig” got into a fenced hunting preserve where it was chased down and shot to death by an 11-year-old boy.
…
weighed 1,051 pounds and measured 9 feet, 4 inches from the tip of its snout to the base of its tail.
…
Jamison was hunting with his father and the guides on May 3 when he killed the giant pig. He said he shot the huge animal eight times with a .50-caliber revolver and chased it for three hours through hilly woods before finishing it off with a point-blank shot. - Are you a good liar?
- Microsoft Surface
- Popular Mechanics how to videos
- Ala. Officials Probe ‘Monster Pig’ Saga
-
Scientific recognition of my personality
Psychology Today has a Field Guide to the Loner, though not me specifically.
-
Guiliani
As my libertarian and libertarian leaning friends have been bringing him up lately, here is a negative portrait of Rudy Guiliani.
And to expand on my bar rant of last night, he would make a great mayor (New Orleans needs one right now), and would probably make a great president if it were the year 1880. However, in our modern age presidents have far too much discretionary power, and pro-choice, thrice married, adulterous Catholics are far too good at living with contradictions to be trusted to keep their promises.
-
Quick link round
- Puzzles and Mysteries from ZenPundit
- The Captain America Syndrome at the Washington Monthly. – They don’t actually call it that, but that’s what they’re talking about.
- This seems dirty, but it’s mostly medical. Quite funny though.
- Yet more Stirling engines
-
I answer more questions no one asked
If bin Laden’s intention behind 9-11 was to draw us into a quagmire in Afghanistan, and instead we invade Iraq, then wouldn’t pulling out of Iraq and moving more troops into Afghanistan pull us into said quagmire?
-
A belated Memorial Day post.
There have been many, many others like it around the blogosphere today, so I’ll just second this one from Scott Kelby.
Thanks.
-
Photography Note
For good portrait shots with an SLR camera, make sure the focal length (zoom) is around 72mm (or 50mm if you’re using Nikon DX lenses, which most Nikons are). This minimizes lens distortion and ensures that the photographs actually look their subjects.
My magic portrait lens is set at this by default, and it’s a wonderful thing.
-
Line of the moment
I came across this podcast of Steven Landsburg, author of More Sex Is Safer Sex: The Unconventional Wisdom of Economics and found it quite entertaining. I thoroughly enjoyed his earlier works, especially The Armchair Economist (much better than Freakonomics). In the excerpt it has this bit:
…If your common sense tells you otherwise, remember that common sense also tells you the earth is flat.