Unblogged Bits for Friday, 11 September 2009

Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries ….

Streisand Effect
Luther, Martin — (Attributed) – Salud!
BREAKING: ROBOTS ARE HAVING BABIES – I think I need to drink a lot tonight.
Reports: Anti-Abortion Activist Shot In Michigan – Details are still very sketchy, so the reasons for the killing aren’t known. But there are no justifiable reasons for doing this, regardless of politics or religion.
Memorial. Period.: Armin
Lost world of fanged frogs and giant rats discovered in Papua New Guinea | Environment | The Guardian – That is many kinds of awesome.
Skype Shuts Down Extras and Its Developer Program – I realize that with a new acquisition there’s usually some belt-tightening. Cutting off the external development ecosystem, though, is rarely a good sign nor a wise idea.
$2.99 .com Domain Registrations at GoDaddy – I don’t really need any more domains, but if I did, this would be a good opportunity to grab one.
Where are the Episcopalians? – There are some interesting distributions here. I wouldn’t have expected such relative density in Wyoming and SoDak. Or Alaska.
Religious Geography of the United States – Some very cool maps here. Distorted a bit, due to different-sized counties, but still interesting to see some of the clusters of different faiths in the population.
Ten Innovative Designs To Help The Sight Impaired – Wow. Some of these are excellently cool. The color reader is brilliant (so to speak).
6 Smart Gmail Tricks To Help You Get The Most Out Of It – Nothing terribly new here, but good advice anyway. Just recently made use of #3.
Trigger, No Bullets? – Exactly. If there’s a “trigger,” it’s effectively off the table until someone explicitly legislates it in the future.
A tale of two lumps: U.K. vs. U.S. – I’ll note that even in the plans under consideration, the inefficiencies and delays of the US experience are less a matter of how things are paid for and more a matter of how the practices are affiliated. If the patient belonged to a group medical provider (such as Kaiser), for example, the integration of primary care, testing facilities, and record-keeping would have been similar to the NHS experience. Unfortunately, most insurance and PPO and even HMO for-profit setups in the US simply aren’t organized that way — but also wouldn’t be under the plans being discussed.
Airport chaplain helps folks find more than just God. – “Someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” — James 2:18
Then and Now with Goofus and Gallant – This Modern World | Salon Comics – Yup.
I’ve been Adrift for seven months – Grats to Doyce for the milestone, and for an intriguingly enjoyable (or enjoyably intriguing) tale.
Bailed Out Banks Get Into The Payday Lending Business – As if big banks needed any further stains on their reputations.

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

1 dust Sat 12-Sep-09 12:39pm at 12:39pm: Yep, a ton of Episcopalians in SoDak. I have an aunt who’s a…erm, a minister? I went to several Episcopalian summer retreats, as a kid.

2 ***Dave Sat 12-Sep-09 5:45pm at 5:45pm: Ah. That explains a lot … :-)