Archive for January, 2006

Monday, January 30th, 2006

Sunday’s Snippets

Ted Koppel has an excellent op-ed in Sunday’s New York Times today about the increasing manner in which network news caters to the desires of advertisers.
Most television news programs are therefore designed to satisfy the perceived appetites of our audiences. That may be not only acceptable but unavoidable in entertainment; in news, however, it [...]

No Comments » - Posted in General by Rick

Wednesday, January 25th, 2006

Remainders

I managed to miss posting the link to this interview with Jonathan Lethem, which is required reading for everyone who cares about literature or art or anything, or, well, just anyone.
The IHT/NYT blog reports that tomorrow at the World Economic Forum, Bono will announce a multi-million dollar corporate backed campaign for The Global Fund. [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Books, General, Music, Save Kepler's by Rick

Wednesday, January 25th, 2006

NYT coverage of internet privacy

The Times has some interesting articles in today’s paper beginning with an article on the increasing use of privacy software and internet anonymizers:
A few reasons exist for the surge, which is hard to measure – it is nearly impossible to track how many people have made themselves invisible online. People who want to continue to [...]

No Comments » - Posted in General, Technology by Rick

Tuesday, January 24th, 2006

Stanford on iTunes

Stanford has been making various podcasts available for download on iTunes. Among their offerings are podcasts from Tobias Wolff, Ann Packer, Michael Chabon, and others.

No Comments » - Posted in Books, General, Save Kepler's by Rick

Tuesday, January 24th, 2006

Gone for good

Mario Lemieux retired from the NHL today, saying, “I can no longer play at the level that I was accustomed to in the past and that has been very, very frustrating to me.”

UTM:T|[2006]|[NHL]|
[22.00]|[0]| [0]|[Los Altos]|[CA]|[USA] UTM:I|[2006]|[1084]|[Lemieux]|[NHL]|[22.00]|
[1]

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Tuesday, January 24th, 2006

The Year of Magical Thinking Revisited

Jonathan Yardley remembers John Gregory Dunne in Sunday’s Washington Post. He likens Dunne to my favorite author:
In certain respects, the American writer whom Dunne most resembles is his fellow Irishman and fellow (lapsed) Catholic, F. Scott Fitzgerald. To be sure, Fitzgerald was an outsider who wanted in, while Dunne liked the outside just fine, [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Books, General, Save Kepler's by Rick

Tuesday, January 24th, 2006

So: is Google a good thing?

John Lanchester asks, “Is Google a good thing?” in the London Review of Books and concludes:
The best historical analogy for where Google is today probably comes from the time when the railroads were being built. Everyone knew that trains and railways would change the world, but no one predicted the invention of suburbs. Google, [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Books, General, Technology by Rick

Tuesday, January 24th, 2006

Amy Tan Reading at Kepler’s Tonight

Amy Tan will be reading at Kepler’s on Tuesday, January 24 at 7:30 pm. This is the only event that has been announced so far for the winter literary season. I’m wondering where all the other events are. There are many authors with books coming out in the next few months that we’re interested in: [...]

1 Comment » - Posted in Books, General, Save Kepler's by Rick

Monday, January 23rd, 2006

Turkey drops charges against Orhan Pamuk

Turkey has dropped its charges against novelist Orhan Pamuk for “insulting the Turkish identity” by making reference to the Armenian genocide in an interview he gave to Das Magazine in 2005.

No Comments » - Posted in Books, General by Rick