The above picture is of Boston’s City Hall, which is apparently linked to “Brutalist” architecture. Am I the only one that thinks that it actually looks really, really cool? Apparently, I am.

Farhad Manjoo wrote about how Netflix is killing piracy. I think that there is some truth to this. I know that in the music world, it used to be that if you wanted to “try before you buy” you had to just download the song if you weren’t going to a record store, but Rhapsody completely obviated the need for it. Given how much space they take up, and really, given how much out there that there is to watch, downloading movies for many is as much a rental as anything. Netflix is just easier.

10 PC Myths from Movies and Television. The (instaneous) photo imaging blow-up bugs me, too. I think they’re a little off-base about Apple. I’m pretty sure Apple is paying for that. The PC makers typically do not, though sometimes you will see a generic one with a Windows logo, which I assume Microsoft is paying for. Every now and again I see them using a Thinkpad, but the logo is nowhere to be found.

Citing this map, someone tweeter that Mormons do not get headlice. I will point out that the only time in our marriage that either of us got headlice was in Deseret.

Cracked: 5 Pro-Marijuana Arguments That Aren’t Helping. The disingenuousness of the arguments put forth for this worthy cause can be very offputting.

More anti-cop fodder. Though cops always say that you can drive until you get to a well-lit place to pull over, they might punish you for doing so. In Missouri, a woman is ordered out of her car at gunpoint and handcuffed despite the car with the flashing lights being unmarked. The police car in Minnesota was at least marked, but after a very low-speed chase with a signalling minivan, the car was rammed twice as it was coming to a stop.

A look at the Army’s task of choosing a battle-ready cell phone. This is one contract I am not worried about Apple getting.

In defense of antidepressants.

In defense of prudes.


Category: Newsroom

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15 Responses to Linkluster ???????-????

  1. PeterW says:

    +1 for the prude article. If you ignore the rhetoric of the debate, it becomes clear that what’s going on is that one of the two viewpoints is not tolerable in polite company. And that viewpoint ain’t libertinism.

  2. Burt Likko says:

    Boston’s city hall looks a lot like the City-County Building in Knoxville, Tennessee. And yeah, you’re pretty much on your own in appreciating the aesthetic charms of the reverse ziggaraut of beige concrete.

  3. web says:

    Looking at the police video in each of the cases, the policemen are just being thugs. Three guys to shout “get your hands in the air” and scream “calm down” in the world’s worst, least calming voice at a girl who is crying? Really? Hitting a van that’s in the process of stopping in icy conditions?

    Ugh.

  4. trumwill says:

    Web, in the case of the second video, I have to wonder if the first bump was accidental. That was my first thought when I saw the video. And the second to cover the accident by making it look intentional. It’s kind of screwy that she’s better off bumping a car twice than once, but I think she would be. However, that they came one after the other means that’s probably not the case because she didn’t have time to think it through.

  5. trumwill says:

    PW, I think it depends on which polite company. Complaining about our audacious society is a passtime in some circles.

  6. Mike Hunt says:

    OT: Starbucks finally cracks down on freeloaders.

    ===

    10 PC Myths from Movies and Television

    I don’t think people actually believe these myths, except the one about image quality. Also, I am pretty sure HP has paid for placement on The Office.

    ===

    The above picture is of Boston’s City Hall

    If not for the flags, I would have guessed the picture was from Eastern Europe.

    ===

    In defense of antidepressants

    Meh. I think when used properly they are fine. The problem that most people have with them is that they seemed to be over-prescribed. It’s ok to be sad sometimes. Really.

  7. David Alexander says:

    Am I the only one that thinks that it actually looks really, really cool?

    It’s okay. I think it’s a unique structure too. I’ve seen it in person, and while it’s a large, somewhat imposing structure, I just can’t see any ugliness in it. People only hate it because it’s the city hall of Boston.

  8. DaveinHackensack says:

    “10 PC Myths from Movies and Television”

    When I saw that headline at first, I thought it was going to be about something entirely different. But re one of those “myths”, the reference to Independence Day, I’d thought of the Apple-alien computer interface before. And I’m not troubled by it.

    It would be one thing if that was the first time Goldblum had accessed the alien computer system, but he had already done so at Area 51, with the captured craft. It seems plausible that a computer/engineering genius might be able to figure that out, especially considering that there had been some research on the alien ship conducted before he showed up.

    You could argue that, 50 years later, the aliens might be using a different operating system, but given that the captured ship sprung to life when the aliens showed up, apparently its software was still able to interact with the mother ship (maybe it downloaded some key patches and updates when the mother ship came into orbit?).

  9. Abel says:

    Boston City Hall looks like something out of communist Bulgaria. Saw plenty of buildings like that to last a life time.

    I like it but only because it makes me nostalgic for Bulgaria.

  10. trumwill says:

    Starbucks finally cracks down on freeloaders.

    Interesting. Starbucks was really late to the offering-free-WiFi party. I figured that this was why and that they didn’t need it. In any event, it’s a good compromise. You can only take up space so long as you have battery for. Except cheaters like me that have a spare battery, that is.

    Meh. I think when used properly they are fine. The problem that most people have with them is that they seemed to be over-prescribed. It’s ok to be sad sometimes. Really.

    I am inclined to agree, but since the criteria are so subjective, I don’t know how you decide who to wean off of it.

  11. trumwill says:

    It would be one thing if that was the first time Goldblum had accessed the alien computer system, but he had already done so at Area 51, with the captured craft. It seems plausible that a computer/engineering genius might be able to figure that out, especially considering that there had been some research on the alien ship conducted before he showed up.

    It still strikes me as implausible, given the time-frame, but I can’t say that I much cared. This example aside, though, there are an awful lot of instances where a degree of compatibility is assumed that does not exist.

  12. trumwill says:

    I like it but only because it makes me nostalgic for Bulgaria.

    There’s something you don’t hear every day.

  13. DaveinHackensack says:

    “Starbucks was really late to the offering-free-WiFi party. I figured that this was why and that they didn’t need it.”

    My local Starbucks still has plenty of plugs, but there’s also usually seats available. This is the sort of thing where common consideration works pretty well. Buy drinks, tip, clean up after yourself, don’t talk loudly on the phone if you’re in an area where others are studying or working quietly, etc.

    New York City (Manhattan, at least) is a different animal. I can see why Starbucks would be a little stricter there. But some of the higher-end coffee places in Manhattan (e.g., Joe) don’t even offer WiFi. And some of them close early (around 8pm).

  14. trumwill says:

    I can’t imagine going to a coffee place without WiFi anymore. Then again, I can’t imagine living in Manhattan, either.

  15. Mike Hunt says:

    Abel: Boston City Hall looks like something out of communist Bulgaria.

    Thank you for proving my point.

    Trumwill: I can’t imagine going to a coffee place without WiFi anymore.

    I can’t imagine going to a coffee place.

    ===

    OT

    About the silliness that is college football. As Neil Best of (Suffolk County, NY) Newsday put it, “College football makes only slightly more sense to me than car racing and country music do.”

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