tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81514279573940868422024-03-06T12:06:10.235+07:00the nearby penDanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02901678973251321027noreply@blogger.comBlogger116125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8151427957394086842.post-50954885743218293942012-09-01T17:17:00.000+07:002012-09-07T22:16:39.982+07:00You'll Never Guess Who Ayn Rand Supposedly Writes LikeSo, there's a website called I Write Like.
Recently, on Reddit, there have been a few posts showing how the algorithm being used is, to put it nicely, bunk.
But I don't take things on faith.
I test 'em out.
And so I went to the site and copied in this Ayn Rand quote:
Through centuries of scourges and disasters, brought about by your code of morality, you have cried that your code had been Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02901678973251321027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8151427957394086842.post-15452499491165012732012-08-23T16:07:00.001+07:002012-09-19T13:44:43.542+07:00Oh No She Didn't! What Happens When Grandma Tries to Restore Art
I recently shared three important takeaways of a book by Lee Sandstead on the art world's dirties secret, but one thing I didn't share about it was some of the fascinating material it includes on the difficult job of art restoration.
This, as Joe Biden might say, can be a big freaking deal--because when somebody who is not an expert tries to restore art bad things can easily happen.
Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02901678973251321027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8151427957394086842.post-56703205110370022982012-08-17T10:58:00.002+07:002012-09-20T07:50:12.321+07:004 Amazing Posts You May Have Missed and 1 (Almost) Funny Remark about Jonah LehrerSo, I don't know if you know this already, but someone's got to say it.
You might be missing out.
In fact, you probably are missing out.
No, not (as you might be thinking) on Facebook posts. Like everyone else you're likely to have that one covered and then some.
But did you know this isn't the primary place I write?
It's not.
I create memes for you on what it means to be a successful kid&Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02901678973251321027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8151427957394086842.post-5777855201592067142012-08-06T20:56:00.001+07:002012-08-13T11:14:18.095+07:00A Tribute to a Tribute
Ari Armstrong just posted at The Objective Standard's blog a short and fitting tribute to Kirani James, Oscar Pistorius, and Össur Kristinsson.
It's a good post and you may enjoy it.
One of the things I enjoyed about is the unabashedly positive view of human achievement it expresses. Another is the justice Ari gives to the two runners in earning their respective achievements by their ownDanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02901678973251321027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8151427957394086842.post-55181445297905401862012-08-04T19:54:00.000+07:002012-08-04T19:54:03.178+07:00This Book (by Greg Gutfeld) is Almost Unspeakably Profane
As host of Red Eye, Greg
Gutfeld shares "some honest crap about the world" without pulling any punches
and for free. But in The Bible ofUnspeakable Truths, he wants you to pay for the pleasure. "[I]t’s almost
the same thing," says Gutfeld, "give or take the suggested retail price."
The book covers
everything from "political crap" and "obligatory sex junk" to "things that are
stupid" Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02901678973251321027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8151427957394086842.post-61775669228601456382012-08-02T20:51:00.000+07:002012-08-02T20:51:05.773+07:00Did a politician just vault that--or was it McKayla Maroney?
The world is unfortunately as full today of spectacular achievements as it is of politicians and bureaucrats who’d like to take the credit for them.
But this is patently absurd.
Are bureaucrats responsible for sites like Twitter and Facebook—or companies like Twilio and 37Signals?
No, they didn’t code that.
Are bureaucrats responsible for the new Tesla, or Gibson guitar, or the Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02901678973251321027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8151427957394086842.post-30455850906612008852012-07-31T11:17:00.002+07:002012-09-21T18:13:03.072+07:00The One Question You Should Ask Yourself Every Day
Asking
questions is seriously under-rated (and more so the more you know).
This is
true whether you’re asking questions of others or asking them of yourself. And
it’s definitely true of a question described in Alan Lakein’s How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life.
That
question is simple enough. Just try it and see.
Ask
yourself, “What is the best use of my time right now?” andDanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02901678973251321027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8151427957394086842.post-87870432279404773562012-07-26T20:01:00.003+07:002012-07-26T20:03:33.597+07:00Why Steve Jobs Quit Going to ChurchIn his biography of Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson explains that as a young boy Jobs went to Lutheran church most Sundays but that this came to end when he was thirteen. Here's why:
In July 1968 Life magazine published a shocking cover showing a pair of starving children in Biafra.
Jobs took it to Sunday school and confronted the church's pastor.
"If I raise my finger, will God know Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02901678973251321027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8151427957394086842.post-33120399336201690612012-07-19T13:04:00.002+07:002012-07-19T13:04:37.824+07:00Revealing Infographic on the TSA
There are more and better reasons to abolish the TSA--reasons having to do with the gross injustice of its actions--but this is a good compilation of facts showing the uselessness of much of what its agents do and the huge amount of money the TSA takes (from taxpayers) to do it:
Image Source: Hardwood Flooring BaltimoreDanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02901678973251321027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8151427957394086842.post-47921712440529264152012-07-16T08:45:00.000+07:002012-07-16T08:45:19.858+07:00The Entire Biography of Steve Jobs in 3 Short Quotes
Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs is 656 pages long, but these three quotes (not included in it) sum up a huge portion of what Isaacson wrote:
1. "He's not the Messiah,
he's a very naughty boy!"
This quote comes from Brian's
mother in The Life of Brian and, while Jobs's god-like status
in business is definitely earned, so too was his status (for a time) as aDanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02901678973251321027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8151427957394086842.post-10672580234567363772012-07-11T07:49:00.000+07:002012-09-20T07:56:54.347+07:00A Successful KidMany parents say they want a successful kid, but what exactly does a successful kid mean?
On one level, I think it means something different for each kid, according to what they value--what they want to have and do.
On another level, it can and I imagine almost always means something similar. For example, in spite of different values, kids want to have their feelings, all of their feelingsDanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02901678973251321027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8151427957394086842.post-77853511989678877112012-07-05T09:22:00.003+07:002012-07-05T09:58:53.732+07:00A Book for Our Epically-Challenged Times
If you agree with me about the value of epics, and have decided to experience an inspiring epic for yourself, one book to
check out is Atlas Shrugged.
Published in 1957, and written by Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged is a novel of
epic scope. Its style, like epics of the past, is similarly elevated in terms
of the language it uses and the symbols it employs.
Should you open the book up, however, youDanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02901678973251321027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8151427957394086842.post-37201014060384588192012-07-03T14:27:00.000+07:002012-07-05T09:56:25.837+07:00The Value of Epics for the Epically-Challenged
“Epic” is one of the most misused
words today. It is also one of the most overused.
People use it to describe a
clever retort. They use it to describe a nap. They use it to describe a trick.
And they use it to describe a pizza. In fact, if someone evaluates
anything positively now, it seems that he will invariably declare it “epic.”
But this is nonsense, and hopefully a passing Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02901678973251321027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8151427957394086842.post-9747049621726778122012-06-12T17:06:00.001+07:002012-08-25T13:12:17.233+07:0050 Shades of GraphiteSo, you've read how I started drawing again, how that drawing thing is going, and even my most recent post on starting to like the smell of graphite in the morning.
But you've been asking your good-looking self a question:
"What has Daniel been drawing lately?"
Daniel, that's me for those who don't know, has actually not been drawing a lot lately. Or rather, I've been drawing some profiles, Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02901678973251321027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8151427957394086842.post-57532818965547948752012-06-08T10:42:00.000+07:002012-06-08T10:42:03.543+07:003 Quotes on Raising a Brighter Child Translated for Stupid Parents
How to Raise a Brighter Child is one of my favorite books on parenting,
mostly because it shares so many useful tips toward the goal of raising smarter
kids.
When
initially writing this post, for another blog, I was going to give a sampling of those tips via a
selection of relevant quotes. However, about halfway through, I decided to
shelve that idea and have a little fun instead.
Here, Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02901678973251321027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8151427957394086842.post-50038395890362609842012-06-04T18:27:00.001+07:002012-06-04T18:27:33.316+07:00A Truckful of Thai Bitches
Note: This is an old rewrite I did (for fun) of an item I saw in the news. Enjoy!
Thai police officers near the
border of Laos
are not always prepared for smugglers, but this past
Thursday they were.
In an operation on that evening
they nabbed four trucks. The drivers tried to flee. They threw things from the
truck as they fled. And yet, try as they did, they could not, did not, get
away.Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02901678973251321027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8151427957394086842.post-65374066152548962092012-06-03T13:54:00.001+07:002012-06-03T14:15:07.181+07:00A Poem About Stumbleupon
I recently started a new blog on reading (you can click here to learn all about it) and have been slowly building up content on it.
While doing so, I of course have been following traffic to it--wondering, in a way, whether Facebook or Google or Twitter like me more.
The answer to that question came through yesterday: Stumbleupon likes me the most of all!
More specifically, if Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02901678973251321027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8151427957394086842.post-64095081283042284742012-06-02T16:23:00.001+07:002012-06-02T16:23:59.887+07:00Can you name this famous scientist?
There’s a
passage in When I Say No, I Feel Guilty,
by Manuel J. Smith, where my favorite scientist is mentioned although not
named. See if you can guess who it is:
Recently, after one class, I ran into a former
student, a physicist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratories, set up and
administered by the California Institute of Technology, and he told me an
amusing story.
The night before Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02901678973251321027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8151427957394086842.post-71144974417504270232012-05-29T12:02:00.003+07:002012-08-25T13:14:23.986+07:00I'm Starting to Like the Smell of Graphite in the MorningSince I've been sharing most of my what I've produced since I started drawing again, I'm going to continue doing so now.
I say this with some reluctance because, frankly, I don't think these pictures came out as good as some of the others--at least not after having them scanned and seeing how little of the shading came out.
Anyway, it's not the fault of my tools entirely. I still have a lot to Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02901678973251321027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8151427957394086842.post-19490630907021041152012-05-24T15:16:00.000+07:002012-08-25T13:13:05.053+07:00How that Drawing Things is Going
This post
is a continuation of “How I Started Drawing Again,” and so to understand it,
you should probably read that first.
To sum up,
I used to draw, then I didn’t for a very long time, and then I started to do so
again—becoming ever more desirous of creating something, anything, and actually
doing that (with improving skill).
By the time
I went and got a drawing pad, this was a couple Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02901678973251321027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8151427957394086842.post-90357729203920344392012-05-22T20:23:00.001+07:002012-05-22T21:01:13.366+07:00David Grann Does it Again"What's so great about David Grann?"
That's a question that's rarely asked.
And the reason it's rarely asked is simple.
If you know the name, you have almost definitely read something by him, and if you've done that, well, you understand.
To my mind, Grann is absolutely brilliant.
He's brilliant enough to have me checking The New Yorker each week to see if there's anything new by him.
Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02901678973251321027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8151427957394086842.post-74695701480965993902012-05-20T14:42:00.000+07:002012-08-25T13:33:02.583+07:00How I Started Drawing Again
So, the
other day I was talking about drawing with my friend Craig and I wondered if I
still had any talent for doing so.
When I was
a kid, I actually drew a lot. My favorite things to draw were ships. I’d draw
them tiny but make absolutely sure to get all the details the same. I also
remember loving to draw (of all things) an old barn. I drew that barn so many
times as a child that I can Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02901678973251321027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8151427957394086842.post-88591736146132313962012-03-30T17:24:00.007+07:002012-03-30T17:54:44.396+07:00Parents Should Quit Arguing about Who's BetterThe Wall Street Journal published another article along the lines of Amy Chua’s earlier one, “Why Chinese Parents are Superior.” Although it’s not saying much, given how bad the original was (you can read Gena Gorlin’s takedown of it here) the latest, "Why French Parents are Superior,” is far better in terms of recommendations and it actually makes a few very good points. For example, the Danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02901678973251321027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8151427957394086842.post-83605354781958401382012-02-28T18:45:00.005+07:002012-02-28T19:17:02.685+07:00The Most Amazing President EverThe president sat in the Oval Office, his back to the windows, his elbows on the desk, his hands the only thing keeping his head from smashing down on the papers in between.The papers on top showed the latest poll numbers, his lowest ever. Others underneath showed the rising trend of unemployment, of debt on the country’s balance sheet, and of various attacks against him.Disgusted with the papersDanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02901678973251321027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8151427957394086842.post-57939515678893509092011-11-28T23:00:00.005+07:002012-04-29T09:41:30.147+07:00This Painting Has a Very Important Message to ShareFew people think of Edouard Bisson anymore. But after reading that consumers in America went "shopping like there's no tomorrow," I recalled this painting of his.
Why?
I recently answered that very question on Facebook and, not wanting to see those thoughts disappear forever below random clicks of things I "like," I'll reproduce my answer below:
Luc Travers would probably be able to answerDanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02901678973251321027noreply@blogger.com8