jb: collected

Jon recommended a blog post : Plowing Detroit Into Farmland

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:49:27 -0500

Today’s idea: Detroit’s “massive failure” makes possible a radical transformation of the blighted city, an article says, including shrinking it down to its urban core and turning much of the place…

Jon recommended an interactive graphic : Behind the Jobless Rate

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:10:34 -0500

The unemployment rate reached 10 percent for the first time in 27 years on Friday.

Jon recommended an article : What Your Phone Might Do for You Two Years From Now

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:10:34 -0500

By now we can probably all agree that the iPhone is the Model T, the Sputnik, the Lawrence Taylor of the mobile technology realm. We are still waiting for the offenses to adapt, the competition to…

Jon recommended an article : Grand Plans for Rail in Denver Hit a Wall of Fiscal Realities

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:10:34 -0500

Voters in 2004 approved a $4.7 billion, 122-mile rail project; costs are now expected to be $7 billion. Most of the lines are still on the drawing board.

Jon recommended an article : A Place to Put Your Apps

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:37:13 -0500

Last week, I reviewed not one, but three new phones. You’d think that would be enough for a while, but fall is peak season for new mobile devices, and another major release — Motorola’s Droid — is…

"As Daniel Pink, the author of “A Whole New Mind,” puts it: In a world in which more and more average..."

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:43:49 -0400

“As Daniel Pink, the author of “A Whole New Mind,” puts it: In a world in which more and more average work can be done by a computer, robot or talented foreigner faster, cheaper “and just as well,” vanilla doesn’t cut it anymore. It’s all about what chocolate sauce, whipped cream and cherry you can put on top. So our schools have a doubly hard task now — not just improving reading, writing and arithmetic but entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity.”

- Thomas Friedman - The New Untouchables

Jon recommended an article : Twitter Serves Up Ideas From Its Followers

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:24:49 -0400

Twitter is “smart enough, or lucky enough” to let its users create new features for it, says an M.I.T. professor.

Jon recommended an article : To Cut Global Warming, Swedes Study Their Plates

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 01:02:13 -0400

STOCKHOLM — Shopping for oatmeal, Helena Bergstrom, 37, admitted that she was flummoxed by the label on the blue box reading, “Climate declared: .87 kg CO2 per kg of product.”

Jon recommended an article : Nudging Recycling From Less Waste to None

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:28:23 -0400

Sara Marshall peers into a drop-off point for recycling in Nantucket. The town is a leader in “zero waste.”More Photos >

Mob Rule! How Users Took Over Twitter

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:44:04 -0400

Mob Rule! How Users Took Over Twitter:

Wired takes a look at the company behind the messaging service

Jon recommended an article : Talk to The Times: Deputy Technology Editor David Gallagher

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:03:17 -0400

David F. Gallagher, a deputy technology editor at The Times, is answering selected questions from readers Sept. 28-Oct. 2, 2009. Questions may be e-mailed to askthetimes@nytimes.com. Mr. Gallagher is…

Type Online, where we're at

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 20:01:20 -0400

Type Online, where we're at:

Nice overview of how fonts over the web could be handled.

Jon recommended an article : Choosing Wisely by Consulting the Sommelier in Your Pocket

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 01:42:53 -0400

Shopping for wine is a lot like parenting a teenager. You feel stupid when you’re in the middle of it, and when you finally emerge, you’re desperately ready for a drink.

A history of modern art in three paragraphs

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:56:49 -0400

A history of modern art in three paragraphs:

Impressionism - painting outside of a studio with quick, loose brushstrokes to capture an evocative impression of their subject. Van Gogh was an Impressionist but wanted to express how he felt…

Jon recommended an article : Happily a State, Forever an Island

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 05:40:28 -0400

Hale’iwa, Hawaii — Once in the Elks Club in Honolulu, an elderly man of Chinese ancestry said in a low voice to me: “This club used to be very exclusive. And the one next door too.” He meant no…

Jon recommended an article : What They Brought to the Table

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:12:36 -0400

FOR proof that Communism was bound to fail, pull a chair up to the table of a restaurant critic and his three guests. Then watch what happens after he tells them what to order, the food has been…

Jon recommended an article : Breakfast Can Wait. The Day’s First Stop Is Online.

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 22:35:31 -0400

Liz Steyer after breakfast with three of her four children, ages 5 to 16. Laptops and cellphones are banned during meals.

Ten things we don't understand about humans

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 01:28:24 -0400

Ten things we don't understand about humans:

New Scientist has a series of articles about aspects of humanity that scientists don’t quite have a handle on…like pubic hair, art, dreams, and teenagers.

Even our closest relatives, the great…

What if you got rid of the NYC subway?

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 01:28:24 -0400

What if you got rid of the NYC subway?:

You’d need the equivalent of a 228-lane Brooklyn Bridge to move all those people into Manhattan during Monday morning rush hour.

At best, it would take 167 inbound lanes, or 42 copies of the…

Jon recommended an interactive graphic : How Different Groups Spend Their Day

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 05:09:20 -0400

The American Time Use Survey asks thousands of American residents to recall every minute of a day. Here is how people over age 15 spent their time in 2008.