“Google’s famous search algorithm emulates the principle of scholarly citation—counting up and evaluating earlier links in order to steer users toward the source that others have already found helpful. In a sense, the system resembles nothing more than trillions of old-fashioned footnotesâ€
Anthony Grafton on the digitization of books in The New Yorker
Archive for the ‘Asides’ Category
Footnotes… of the FUTURE!
Sunday, November 4th, 2007Ron Paul in Time Magazine
Saturday, November 3rd, 2007“Representative Tom Tancredo, another long-shot GOP candidate, tells me that after a debate in New Hampshire, one of his staffers walked up to a guy in a shark costume and asked him if he was a Ron Paul supporter. ‘No. They’re all nuts,’ replied the shark. ‘I’m just a guy in a shark suit.’â€
Time Magazine
Random quote from my Philosophy homework
Friday, November 2nd, 2007“‘Esoteric morality’ is a contradiction in terms.â€
Kurt Baier
Study Room Scratchings
Thursday, November 1st, 2007“please let me OUTâ€
Message scratched into the table of the study room I’m working in right now
Boxing Kangaroo
Wednesday, October 31st, 2007
I gotta write a ten-page paper tonight so instead of a thoughtful post on the substructure of things, you’re gonna get a boxing kangaroo. Sorry?
Bugatti Veyron vs. Eurofighter Typhoon
Tuesday, October 30th, 2007
Top Gear is one of the best shows out there. Where else can you see a race between a jet fighter and a really fast car?
China Mieville on Libertarianism
Monday, October 29th, 2007China Mieville, a sci-fi/fantasy/hard-to-classify author and part-time writer on international law, wrote a scathing indictment of libertarian philosophy that also laments how they stole the original coolness of floating city-states, giant ships that only function under their own laws. It’s a great, great read.
Puzzpack
Sunday, October 28th, 2007I spent so much time in high-school playing puzzpack in my math (and other) classes. A ridiculous amount of time. Good to know it’s still around.
Jeffrey Toobin on Charlie Rose
Saturday, October 27th, 2007
Charlie Rose talks to Jeffrey Toobin on the latter’s new book The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court, as well as other Supreme Court-related topics.
Screens, large and small
Thursday, October 25th, 2007“If newspapers are windows onto the world, what are the consequences of shrinking that window to the size of an ipod screen?â€
Ben Vershbow on The Institute for the Future of the Book’s blog