-Stanley Fish, Are There Secular Reasons? - NYT

(Full disclosure: this quote was taken slightly out of context).

“…when coffee originally arrived as a phenomenon in the mid-1600s, it was not seducing a culture of perfect sobriety. It was replacing alcohol as the daytime drug of choice. The historian Tom Standage writes in his ingenious A History of the world in Six Glasses:

The impact of the introduction of coffee into Europe during the seventeenth century was particularly noticeable since the most common beverages of the time, even at breakfast, were weak “small beer” and wine….Those who drank coffee instead of alcohol began the day alert and stimulated, rather than relaxed and mildly inebriated, and the quality and quantity of their work improved….Western Europe began to emerge from an alcoholic haze that had lasted for centuries.”

Steven Johnson’s The Invention of Air, pages 59-60.

“… the open circulation of ideas was practically the founding credo of [...] eighteenth-century coffeehouse culture [...]. With the university system languishing amid archaic conditions, and corporate R&D labs still on the distant horizon, the public space of the coffeehouse served as the central hub of innovation in British society. How much of the Enlightenment do we owe to coffee? Most of the epic developments in England between 1650 and 1800 that still warrant a mention in the history textbooks have a coffeehouse lurking at some crucial juncture in their story. The restoration of Charles II, Newton’s theory of gravity, the South Sea Bubble–they all came about, in part, because England had developed a taste for coffee, and a fondness for the kind of informal networking and shoptalk that the coffeehouse enabled. Lloyd’s of London was once just Edward Lloyd’s coffeehouse, until the shipowners and merchants started clustering there, and collectively invented the modern insurance company.”

Steven Johnson’s The Invention of Air, pages 57/58.

Second WebOS handset dubbed Palm Eos, headed to AT&T – BGR

Ill kicks:

UBIQ eL Canvas Collection, via Kanye West.

Jonathan Rauch: “a libertarian shift in values” – Reason

“…a new ABC News/Washington Post survey was the first-ever national poll to show more people supporting gay marriage than opposing it. At the same time, other fascinating new polling data is showing (among many other things) increased political non-affiliation, support for decriminalizing pot, and a desire to open up relations with Cuba.”

Number of children in Japan slides to new low – Seattle Times

The news media found again to have a bias against falling population, saying that it “could eventually wreak havoc on the world’s second-largest economy.” When will they learn that the only measure that matters is per-capita GDP at PPP and the qualitative level of development, and not nominal GDP? It’s not havoc. If anything, shrinking is the opposite. It means less energy consumed, less pollutants emitted, less products consumed, and a healthier planet. Sounds like heaven to me!

Afghanistan’s only pig [in a zoo] quarantined in flu fear [lol]

Bristol Palin is now speaking out as an advocate for teens not fucking having any more fucking kids – Seattle Times

Bank of America Takes Lemons (They Don’t Have Enough Capital To Survive), Make Lemonade (We’ll Ask The Government For It!)

EtsyRAIN Spring Craft Show allows you to see locally produced Etsy goods in-person!

Apparently…

Via Shazzzam.

Via Uncrate.

The North Face Mercurial Jacket ($350):

It has a baffled silver side made from Scholler fabric designed to reflect sunlight and vent heat out of the jacket, and because it’s reversible, you can have the smooth black side hold heat in and absorb sunlight to warm you.

The Sony-Ericsson Idou:

A 12MP cameraphone. Hot.

Cool HP PC concept:

Founding Father, Entrepreneur: The overlooked business career of George Washington

Laid-Off Foreigners Flee as Dubai Spirals Down – NYT

The Economic Stimulus Bill:

Via LoSC.

Smartphones pay off in schools – Seattle Times

Muslim ads on county buses drive Jewish group to protest

Passports will be needed to buy mobile phones in the UK

Say goodbye to privacy (then again, this example comes courtesy of the nanny state, so we shouldn’t be so surprised).

Gordon Brown brings Britain to the edge of bankruptcy

Is the UK the next Iceland?

Biggest banks ranked by percent loss in market value:

Best performers (down roughly half): Santander (Spain), JPMorgan (US), HSBC (UK/HK). Worst performers (down 90%+): Barclays, Citigroup, Royal Bank of Scotland.

Strange effects from cellphone cameras (not photoshopped):

Los sensores CMOS baratos, como el del iPhone, no exponen el escena de una vez, sino que la escanean de izquierda a derecha. Si fotografías algo que se mueve muy rápido (como las hélices de un avión) puede resultar en imágenes extrañas en las que cada columna del sensor representa un momento en el tiempo distinto a los demás.

(Cheap CMOS censors like those found in the iPhone don’t take a single exposure, and instead scan a scene from left to right. If you photograph something moving quickly (like an airplane’s propeller) it could result in a strange image, in which each column of the CMOS censor displays a capture moments apart from its neighbors).

Curioso efecto óptico en cámaras sencillas – Microsiervos

The internet has changed the way we consume news. Nicholas Sarkozy wants to go against progress and bail out French newspaper publishers. It’s true that there is inherent value in having a strong, independent press, but there is no evidence that suggests that we’re losing that robust impartiality. In fact, only the method of news consumption is changing. Minus two points for Sarkozy.

Sarkozy quiere salvar a la prensa francesa – El Blog Salmon

Chinese Translation Cuts Out Parts of Obama Inauguration Speech

The Chinese translation of the speech, credited to the Web site of the official China Daily newspaper, was missing the word “communism” in the first sentence. The paragraph with the sentence on dissent had been removed entirely.

Anarchy anyone?:

It’s time to get rid of farm subsidies in the US and Europe:

Agricultural Subsidies: Corporate Welfare for Farmers – Reason Online

The US ought to allow online poker. California is going to this year, and will reap a massive tax windfall. Other states will follow suit.

Follow-Up: The Stakes Get Bigger – Reason

Starbucks Torched in Greece:
(click to enlarge)

Greek riot aftermath 4 – Flickr

Looks like Google Android is going to take over China with this Lenovo phone (the Chinese have been keen on Linux handsets for years):

Nice Dilbert on solvency:

Via The Big Picture.

Wunderbloc (a NYC-based fashion/boutique/e-commerce site) is coming up with some photography that’s good enough to challence TheSartorialist:

Krystal Brown-Malone

Sasha Owen-Longfellow

Sony is trying to leapfrog the iPod Touch with a svelte touchscreen Walkman. Too little, too late:

Vertu’s got a sweet ode to Boucheron:

Corporate logos modified to reflect the gloomy economy:

A $300 billion foreclosure prevention program passed by Congress this summer to help up to 400,000 homeowners wound up larded with requirements, like requiring background checks and restricting eligibility for mortgage relief to people at risk of foreclosure as of March 1. As a result, fewer than 200 people have applied for the program since it opened in October, according to officials from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and no loans have been modified.

Loan Mod Datapoint of the Day, via Felix Salmon

Percent of Loans in Foreclosure, 2007:

Via The Big Picture.

ASUS invented the Netbook, but Acer now wallops them in sales (I wonder whose margins are higher?)

LG tests LTE (the next generation of cellular/data networks) and gets 60mbps down and 20mbps up!

Via Engadget.

Who can get a 123% loan-to-value mortgage these days? George W Bush, that’s who! He’s just taken out a $3,074,239 loan from Community National Bank in Midland, Texas, to buy an 8,500 sq. ft. bungalow in Dallas which was appraised at $2.5 million earlier this year.

Via Felix Salmon.

Sprint’s going to leverage their WiMax network by offering dual-mode (i.e. CDMA high-speed cellular data combined with Clear WiMax) connectivity in one device. Good move.

Loving the Fisker Karma:

(click to enlarge)

Fisker Reveals the Production Karma – Wired News

Bellevue High School’s football team is ranked #56 in the nation. Somehow, our rival Skyline is ranked higher, at #22.

Via Rivals.com.

Nokia launches the N97 QWERTY touch-screen smartphone:

Cicero and the Roman Credit Crunch, 88 BC:

“…Cicero, the Roman orator, gave a speech in 66BC in which he alluded to the credit crunch. Cicero was arguing that Pompey the Great should be given military command against Mithridates VI, king of Pontus on the Black sea coast of what is now Turkey. He reminded his audience of events in 88BC, when the same Mithridates invaded the Roman province of Asia, on the western coast of Turkey. Cicero claimed the invasion caused the loss of so much Roman money that credit was destroyed in Rome itself.”