Tag: politics
-
Yelp Release Notes go Political
I always make it a habit to read the release notes of apps when they push updates to see what’s new. Usually it’s pretty dry stuff, what’s fixed, what’s new. Yelp is always good for a few laughs too and their latest release pokes fun at the latest Rick Perry gaffe. For those that haven’t…
-
Digital Cartography
Eric Fischer takes large datasets and turns them into art. His flickr stream is a collection of fascinating time-series maps plotting data over time to draw out shapes which take on a greater meaning. Weather it’s a map of taxis in San Francisco or an overlay of flickr metadata on top of NYC, Eric’s creations are at once…
-
Throwing Stones
The images coming out of Cairo are very disturbing. Nothing good can come out of a situation where the two sides resort to the throwing of blunt objects at each other. My hope is for calmer minds to prevail tomorrow. Google (and Issac Asimov) tell us, “Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.” Ignore…
-
What Not to Say. . .
. . . when you are trying to instill global confidence in your leadership abilities. In response to questions from the international press about S&P issuing it’s first downgrade on Japanese credit worthiness in nine years, Prime Minister Naoto Kan had little reassurance to offer. “I just heard that news,” a flustered-looking Mr. Kan told…
-
Jon Stewart’s Closing Remarks
Jon Stewart’s closing speech at the Rally to Restore Sanity was brilliant. On mass media the most tweeted line of the day was, “If we amplify everything, we hear nothing.” Viewing the United States political process from Finland, I have to say the “fun-house mirror” through which Americans portray themselves is a bit comic. Europeans…
-
Berlusconi Pizza with Reindeer
Finnish humor at its best. The Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was famously quoted as saying he had to “endure” Finnish food during a visit several years ago. So it certainly amused me when I found out that the a Finnish pizza chain has named one of their pizzas in his honor. Thumbing their noses squarely at…
-
Barack Obama’s Facebook Page
This is really well done. In honor of Barack Obama’s first 100 days in office, Slate has mocked up a parody of his Facebook page. Remember, What will Facebook look like in 40 years?