Author Archives: WorldWideWeber

Duh

And I quote: Researchers from Pennsylvania found that a high IQ score required both high intelligence and high motivation but a low IQ score could be the result of a lack of either factor.

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Signocide

The District of Columbia cares about its pedestrians. It cares so much it puts signs in the middle of busy thoroughfares, reminding drivers that people on foot have a right to cross the street without being run over. It doesn’t … Continue reading

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Takeover

On March 16, I thought I was going to a run-of-the-mill protest downtown after work. As it turned out, I became part of a crowd occupying the lobby of an office building, and it was an attempt at push-back against corporate … Continue reading

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Demogogue

“Are you now, or have you ever been, a Muslim?” (Photo: New York Times) Rep. Peter King (R-NY), IRA supporter, didn’t say that, as far as I know. But that’s what I “heard” at his “hearing” on home-grown Muslim terrorism (supposedly … Continue reading

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Seriously?

About a month ago Laura was walking along 41st Street up around Military Road as the winter sunlight was fading. A young man walked up to her and said: “Can you tell me which way is west?” The sky might … Continue reading

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Maier

A very belated (i.e., posthumous) “happy birthday” to the greatest street photographer you’ve probably never heard of: Vivian Maier. She’s right up there with Cartier-Bresson and Winogrand, and she was totally unknown during her lifetime. She is unknown no longer, … Continue reading

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Hyperstorage

Smartphones are amazing in a lot of ways, but the sight of the 2GB microSD card was … well, almost ludicrous. I had a flashback to a 360KB 5¼-inch floppy disk, and the big old piece of machinery needed to … Continue reading

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Nots

To kick off the new year, here’s a story by a Russian writer with a very Polish name: Sigismund Krzhizhanovsky. I’m just starting to explore his works, only a few of which have appeared in English. I thought I’d add … Continue reading

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Chromoconfusion

Remember my blue-green Volvo? Of course you don’t. You remember my green-blue Volvo. In any case, I’m thinking about the problem of color again, so watch out. Blame it on the University of Chicago and its blasted alumni magazine. The … Continue reading

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UTF-8

Encoding (aka code pages)? No one gives a damn about encoding! True enough. It’s so deeply geeky, it’s hard to imagine any normal person knowing the difference between CP1251 and KOI8-R, for instance. Windows had code pages coming out the … Continue reading

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