links for 2009-02-03

What the media should actually be doing: "We don't want to see the media treat Barack Obama with the overt scorn they directed at Bill Clinton, snooping around his bedroom and spreading lies large (Vince Foster conspiracy theories, for example) and small (the airplane haircut that didn't delay traffic at LAX) — but neither do we want the media to obediently type up whatever he says without question, as they did during the run-up to the Iraq war."

The most important this is that it takes 3 hours to truly be effective at work, 3 hours without distractions.

Refutation of trickle-down economics.

Pretty neat service to track your comments and comments about you.

"Iran has launched its first domestically made satellite, state television reports."

"But I think what we need more of on the Internet is mutual respect and authenticity. And unlike Jason, I don't see things getting worse. I think they are getting much better these days as more and more of our society moves online and brings with them the manners they have in their offline life." Here, here.

Wow, that's crazy. This was supposed to be the next great thing in education and poof gone.

Pretty simple, but how already done for you.

Freaking cool bit of code to explode elements off the screen.

Another example of opt-ins are bad customer services, permission marketing is best.

Looks like me might have a solution to Fermi's paradox, good riddance I say, it always felt fishy.

"Google Sitemap Generator is a tool installed on your web server to generate the Sitemaps automatically. Unlike many other third party Sitemap generation tools, Google Sitemap Generator takes a different approach: it will monitor your web server traffic, and detect updates to your website automatically. " Google FTW!

Who says China is a free country. "A human rights advocate who tried to help grieving parents push for an official investigation into a school that collapsed during May’s earthquake in Sichuan Province has been charged with illegal possession of state secrets, a legal step Chinese officials take when they intend to punish a dissident."

Do swear words add to the message or detract. Personally, I'm of the opinion that people swear, your writing should reflect that.

Why am I not living in Korea?

Haha: "Too great a dependence on profiling passengers by ethnicity or nationality is an ineffective way to conduct airport screening to catch terrorists, according to a statistical model for examining rare events. "

Sweet way to build in pretty cross browser compatible alpha transparent elements.

I'm gonna try this.

Up and down sliding effect to hide elements in jQuery.

Is the plan to build out the internet infrastructure in the US as part of the US stimulus bill a useful or wasteful part?

Create your own ajax preloaders.

"US President Barack Obama has warned that more US banks are likely to fail, as the full extent of their losses in the economic crisis becomes clear." Really, thanks for that.

Seems a pretty bone-headed move.

Some of the largest sources of lithium used in batteries, like the ones to power electric cars is in Bolivia. They could easily turn into the Saudi Arabia of the battery world.

From the article: "Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the leader of Libya, was elected chairman of the African Union on Monday and made clear he would pursue his vision of a United States of Africa despite reluctance from many members."

13 and locked away for life, especially for a crime that didn't end in murder, and admittedly the evidence is sketchy.

$250 device to sniff and clone RFIDs including the ones in your passport, the ones that are not soppused to be read past 1 foot.

The DOM is one f'ed up mess.

What does the nomination of Republican Senator Judd Gregg for Commerce Secretary, say about Obama. Personally I wouldn't read this much into it, but whatever NYT.

Setting up a MySQL sandbox.

Google Earth adds the ocean as a new frontier to explore.

What is your twitter username worth?

Woot: "Internet Explorer now has 67.55 percent of global browser market share"

Money quote: "The US has spent nearly $51bn (£36bn) on rebuilding Iraq and its army. Officials initially estimated that the reconstruction programme would cost $2.4bn."

New Attorney General is Eric Holder.

My thoughts exactly.

Another flare up in Gaza.

The deliciousness of advertising within advertising.