Karl Lagerfeld Interviews Himself

Why do I like Karl Lagerfeld? Because he's always impatient. And funny.





(via HuffPo)

Ferriss Bueller's Superbowl Commercial

OK, I admit I squealed with glee when I saw the teaser for this.

Links for Later 1-27-12

1. Shannon Larratt's recommendation for Spoonflower custom printed fabric
2. How To Build a TARDIS
3. Trying to fix Pakistan's schools
4. StatSilk World Bank lets you do geographic comparisons of global macroeconomic indicators
5. Typography in Illustrator by Smashing Mag
6. New, hi-rez images of the Earth from satellite
7. Freud in the Adirondacks
8. Great one-handed catch by a ballboy at the Australian Open
9. Elsevier's economic case is hollow
10. Blade Runner Blues cover
11. Morgellon's disease update
12. Effects of a media diet
13. How right-handed sugars emerged from left-handed amino acids in the early organic environment
14. Fans willen Edwin Bouwhuis terug
15. Chris Dodd and MPAA in trouble over SOPA/PIPA

Stop SOPA/PIPA

If you can read this, the Internet isn't dead yet. It's under immediate threat from a pair of bills currently working their way through Congress. Both SOPA, the House version, and PIPA, the Senate version, were bills written by Big Entertainment under the cover of "anti-piracy" efforts. What they are instead is anti-competitive, anti-free speech and anti-public use. Take the time to find out more at the Electronic Freedom Foundation, read the bills, and contact your Senators and Congressman to tell them to take their hands off the Internet.

If you enjoy reading this blog, and thousands of other sites across the web, you owe it to yourself to take action today.

Thanks.

Links for Later 1-11-12

1. Rev. Roger Williams, the foundation of Rhode Island, and the foundation of the separation of church and state in America
2. Creating guilloche patterns in Illustrator
3. Wes Anderson style stationery, movie festival marketing

The Future is Now, Vol. LXXXV: The Skin Cell Gun

Jörg Gerlach's skin cell gun is supposed to be able to replace burned skin within four days. One of the most amazing cell culture applications I've ever seen:

Opportunities

Every time you want to make any important decision, there are two possible courses of action. You can look at the array of choices that present themselves, pick the best available option and try to make it fit. Or, you can do what the true entrepreneur does: Figure out the best conceivable option and then make it available.

-Jon Burgstone and Bill Murphy

Breakthrough Entrepreneurship

as quoted by Eric Schurenberg in

"What's an Entrepreur? The Best Definition Ever"

The Anti-SOPA Ad

Reddit is doing an anti-SOPA boycott on the 18th, and there are rumors that Google, Twitter and Facebook may do so as well.

Trouble is the Essence of Entrepreneurship

Colbert’s co-conspirator in those days was the director and playwright Dexter Bullard, who would call him up and say, “Do you want to get in trouble?” Getting in trouble meant hiring a hall, inviting some critics and then picking a play — something by Havel, say, whom they had barely heard of — and learning it and putting it on in a week or so.

-Charles McGrath

"How Many Stephen Colberts are There?"

Michel Thomas, The Language Master

Michel Thomas created a novel method of language instruction, in which students are instructed to relax and to make no effort to remember any of what they learn. The result is supposed to be effective learning of the language in hours or days rather than years.

In Nigel Levy's documentary for BBC2, Thomas teaches a group of London secondary school students to speak conversational French in five days.


This past week, I used Michel Thomas' recordings to learn Italian. After two hours, I certainly seemeed to learn something. I seem to have picked up a fine bit of Italian, and unexpectedly also found I was able to read in French with greater ease.

Oh, the Places You'll Go at Burning Man

Dr. Seuss meets the Burners. Wheeeeeeee!
(via boingboing)

Links for Later 1-6-12

1. How to make a model of your house from a photo and put it in a snowglobe (via boingboing)
2. Lamar Smith chooses the "Lie & Deny" strategy to defend SOPA

State of the World

Bruce Sterling and Jon Lebkowski are back for the 2012 State of the World discussion, and they're spinning memes at a furious pace. A sample:

The "Caste." Since Italy has had a very low birthrate for a very long time, it's dawning on people that everybody in power is amazingly old and that young people can't get a job or a house. Since the guys at the top of the heap never really leave power or change their policies, they are increasingly decried as the "Caste." Unfortunately for the young, old people vote very regularly and aren't gonna vote against themselves. Japan suffers a similar political helplessness; there's just not enough fresh blood to renew the state. It's gerontocracy in action and it's getting worse. Italy now has a "technocratic" emergency government, but they're all old guys.

It's all good. Go now and join in over on the WELL.

Haut Nerd Home Design

Author Christopher Paolini lives with his family, collects swords and makes chainmail in his spare time. In short, he's a champion fantasy author and he lives it. Good for him.

Here's his house, dragon sculptures and all.

Livraria Lello & Irmão

Beautiful bookstore in Oporto. That staircase alone is worth a trip. (via @magsarty)

Links for Later 1-3-12

1. Tim Ferriss Accelerated Learning at the Long Now
2. Leadership and solitude
3. Marvelous sentences: "Actor Peter Dinklage, who plays a dwarf on the show, has become the poster child for sodomy among the nation's youths."
4. Yes, that last link is satire, people.

Links for Later 1-2-12

1. Henry Rollins shows vacation slides of Afghanistan, Iran, Burma and other unlikely places from his new book of photography
2. Who knew that fracking could cause earthquakes? WHO KNEW?
3. Hey, girl, Ryan Gosling talks about rhetoric
4. Ricardianomics Roundup
5. More Ricardianoid Throwdown with Noah Smith, who says 'tis not Say's Law, but dY/dG=0 at the heart of the matter
6. John Cochrane hath a blog, sure to make Paul Krugman dance for joy

Larry Lessig on the Lost Republic

Thesis: The Republic after the meaning of the founders has been distorted by corruption. It is no longer brown bag corruption, as it was in earlier times; it is now a corrupt system with ostensibly honest people inside.

Here's his interview with On Point, in which he discusses this same corrupting system of money, politics and influence. As a sidenote, this talk is a good example of the fast-slide PowerPoint method Lessig uses, which requires careful synchronization of his talk with his slides.

Mike DeStefano - Uneasy Rider

A story about living while dying. The NYT/This American Life version can be read here.