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Internet Star @ Least 473 Years Old ¶

Always nice to read about the history of symbols.

Cheney for President ¶

Ross Douthat’s much-anticipated first turn at the NYT:

At the very least, a Cheney-Obama contest would have clarified conservatism’s present political predicament. In the wake of two straight drubbings at the polls, much of the American right has comforted itself with the idea that conservatives lost the country primarily because the Bush-era Republican Party spent too much money on social programs. And John McCain’s defeat has been taken as the vindication of this premise.

Substantively, I think he brings a needed reasonable voice to the current conservative din – without the ego of David Frum or the questionable alignment of Andrew Sullivan. However, I hope his future columns will be more focused. This one covers too much ground for 800 words.

Arlen, You Let Me Down ¶

Meghan McCain:

And I understand how he’s been made to feel like an outcast by a small, vocal group. Still, this was an opportunity for Specter to hold his ground and set an example for progressive-minded Republicans trying to overcome one of their biggest obstacles: winning the party primaries.

Of course, this speaks to much larger problem in the GOP. We need to attract more centrist and progressive conservative voters at the primary level, so that level-headed candidates stand a chance. We need courageous Republicans more than ever. And this week, Sen. Specter turned his back.

100 Days of Obama ¶

Charlie Rose hosts one of the most intelligent conversations I’ve heard in a long time, with Mike Allen, Jim Ellis, Jeff Greenfield, Al Hunt, Katty Kay and John Heilemann.

The WaPo’s High Horse ¶

Andrew Sullivan:

Memo to WaPo: your days of thinking like this are over. If you don’t want to go the way of the Rocky Mountain News, wake up and smell the competition.

The Un-Rove ¶

Andrew Sullivan on Obama’s potential for long-term impact.

The Big Cal ¶

A small side project I’ve been working on the past couple of days: a calendar view of headline news culled from Wikipedia.

Midnight Breakfast ¶

I think I’m going to take a little bit of a break from nscott.net to focus on Midnight Breakfast for a little while. If you haven’t seen it already, MB is a fun tumblog run by a few friends and yours truly. Check us out sometime.

Fireball: The John Gruber Story ¶

Any chance this is real?

Automatic Kottke.org ¶

I should consider doing one of these for nscott.net. It would include checking kottke.org for random posts every now and then.

Defying Gravity ¶

This girl is really into musicals. No wonder Eve likes her.

Ze Frank’s Voice Drawing ¶

This is absolutely amazing! (And for those who don’t know me, I don’t use that word lightly.)

(also via Andy Baio)

Mr. Tweet ¶

Billed as “Your Personal Networking Assistant for Twitter!” Looks interesting, I’m currently giving it a try.

Andy Baio is impressed.

Back Issues ¶

Jill Lepore for The New Yorker:

The newspaper is dead. You can read all about it online, blog by blog, where the digital gloom over the death of an industry often veils, if thinly, a pallid glee. The Newspaper Death Watch, a Web site, even has a column titled “R.I.P.” Or, hold on, maybe the newspaper isn’t quite dead yet. At its funeral, wild-eyed mourners spy signs of life. The newspaper stirs!

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall ¶

Errol Morris:

During the last week of the Bush administration, I asked the head photo editors of these news services — Vincent Amalvy (AFP), Santiago Lyon (AP) and Jim Bourg (Reuters) — to pick the photographs of the president that they believe captured the character of the man and of his administration.

(via Gruber)

Wake n’ Bacon ¶

I need one of these. (Thanks, Eve.)

Textpattern CMS 4.0.8 released ¶

Not as big a release as 4.0.7, but it can’t hurt to stay up-to-date.

I’ve said it before, Textpattern is a great piece of software. If you’re planning a content-heavy site, it should be one of your top contenders for CMS choice.

Authentic Ink ¶

A beautiful blackletter font from Florian Schick.

Obama Signs Executive Order on Gitmo ¶

Four executive orders regarding Gitmo and torture. This is fantastic news.

Charlie Rose interviews David Foster Wallace ¶

I think this 1997 piece is one of the most amazing Charlie Rose interviews I’ve ever seen.

Greatness ¶

Nicholas Lemann on what it takes to make a great presidency:

If you’re running the American government, change based on governance and politics matters a whole lot more than change based on intelligence and charisma.

Government communications should be helpful and clear ¶

Khoi Vinh:

A submission from AIGA’s design and public policy group to the Change.gov Citizen’s Briefing Book, the goal of which is to compile the most popular idea submissions for the new administration. “Government must invest in quality graphic design and clear language for all its public communications. We need simple forms, easy-to-use Web sites, quality telephone support, and good signs and communications at public buildings.” It’s also worth browsing through the briefing book’s list of most popular ideas.

My favorite bit from the submission:

America has an extraordinary pool of design talent that is respected worldwide. For the benefit of citizens, to support American jobs, and to invest in the information infrastructure that will improve productivity over time, government should be committed to improving the way it communicates.

This is a great idea and a good cause in general. I’d love to see more action being taken like this on behalf of clear and effective communication.

How William Shatner Changed the World ¶

I think this might be a real documentary.

(via The Rumpus)

Oblivious, Eh? ¶

Gruber responds to Brian X. Chen’s Wired piece regarding Apple’s quarterly conference call titled “Apple Still Oblivious to Netbook Opportunity”:

Sounds to me like Apple’s about as oblivious to the netbook opportunity as they were to the smartphone opportunity around, say, 2006.

I, for one, hope (nay, suspect) Gruber’s right on this one.

@whitehouse_gov ¶

WhiteHouse.gov even has a Twitter account.

In related news, Twitter activity hit a major spike during Obama’s swearing in on Tuesday.

(via Andy Baio)

McCain: Obama’s newest advisor? ¶

I agree with Jason Kottke on this. The fact that Obama is maintaining open lines of communication with McCain is great news.

McCain, though it was his own fault (or that of his handlers), didn’t represent himself well during the presidential campaign and it’s nice to see that the very able Senator isn’t being sidelined because of it. Also, it’s quite savvy of Obama to seek out his support. He’s essentially buying McCain stock at a low point and will presumably leverage that purchase when that stock inevitably rises.

If you haven’t already, now might be a good time to go read David Foster Wallace’s 2000 essay on McCain.

Meetings Are a Matter of Precious Time ¶

Professor of Behavioral Science Reid Hastie:

Part of the problem at such meetings is that the leader has not set clear objectives or an agenda, and didn’t assign pre-meeting preparation tasks. Instead, the leader seems to hope that magic will occur, producing a serendipitous solution to some of the problems addressed. Of course, that doesn’t happen. As a general rule, meetings make individuals perform below their capacity and skill levels.

I agree with this to some extent, but would warn not to take Hastie’s advice to the extreme. There is such a thing as too much organization, just as there is such a thing as not enough. The trick is to find the right balance between the two so that creative sparks can fly but no one feels like they’re simply wasting their time.

(via Kottke)

“No Words That Will Be Quoted In A Hundred Years” ¶

Andrew Sullivan responds to George Packer.

Let Us Now Set Aside Childish Things ¶

George Packer responds to Obama’s inaugural speech.

On Day One, Obama Sets a New Tone ¶

Off to a great start:

President Obama moved swiftly on Wednesday to impose new rules on government transparency and ethics, using his first full day in office to freeze the salaries of his senior aides, mandate new limits on lobbyists and demand that the government disclose more information.

I intend to watch this presidency very closely.

The country’s new robots.txt file ¶

Jason Kottke on WhiteHouse.gov’s newfound openness to search.

Analyzing Obama’s Inaugural Speech ¶

This is a great interactive transcript from the NY Times following the video of Obama’s stately speech this morning.

A Good Start ¶

From the new White House Blog:

Just like your new government, WhiteHouse.gov and the rest of the Administration’s online programs will put citizens first.

My feelings on this are best represented by punctuation: !!!!

A Kindle trick changes the reading experience ¶

Now you can search for stale and overused metaphors.

(via Khoi Vinh)