The Emptiness

Oulipo: Ouvroir de Litterature Potentielle

Link: Oulipo: N+7.

Ouvroir de Litterature Potentielle

It made me laugh. Then write.

ABM gone, INF at risk

Link: Missile defense: the Russian reaction-Blog-Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces.

It's quite likely that Russia will use the system's deployment in Europe as a pretext for pulling out of the INF Treaty. What kind of benefit this withdrawal could bring to Russia remains unclear. But at this point, Russia could do so just to prove it can. If the United States is able to pull out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, why can't Russia unilaterally extract itself from the treaties it no longer likes? Isn't that what superpowers do these days? If so, we're in serious trouble.

There is only one, and for a very long time will be only one, important variable analysis of global power: nuclear weapons. Did you think that all that was over when the wall fell? Sucker!

...and so we say goodbye to Starbucks

Bloated.
Starbucks was a big deal, make no mistake. It put pressure on everyone to start Selling Good Coffee Now, and it worked. Being a coffee-fiend became a much more pleasing thing in London, Dublin, and even humble San Jose, why not. Even Paris. Yes, I dare blaspheme. But then capitalism worked its magic and now the whole thing has become embarrassing and non-functional.
Time:

"You guys are actually proud that there are 10,000 different drink combinations. Are you insane? Don't you know what happens when you increase complexity in any business process? Steve Jobs makes 10 products."

Time for the next big thing I guess. Here's the general idea, I'm giving it away for free: Have a nice store, reasonably quiet, not too large. Sell coffee. Not chocolate. Not even tea. Don't sell too many buns and tasty things. Make sure that the coffee is good enough. Don't bother with syrups. Provide newspapers. Prosper.

Ugly and wrong

Let me tell you about something that's ugly and plain wrong. It's a little something on the big old world wide web we know, use and sometimes love. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, please disregard.)
You Tube videos embedded in weblogs, that later end up embedded in the rss-feed and hence dumps all over your feed-reader.
It's the animated gif of the 21st century. Please stop.
That will be all.

Blockwriter - such a gorgeous tool!

I have many, many flaws and weird hang-ups: one of them is IMPLEMENTS FOR WRITING TEXT. I can't resist fountain pens, typewriters, word processors... it's just embarrassing. I have dozens. Oodles. Anyway, there seems to be a bit of an upswing for applications that focus on writing as opposed to editing. That means clutter-free screen, limited search and layouting fiddly bits.
Blockwriter is a very neat little app, it made me smile and looks useful. (Clarification: Blockwriter is only a concept - probably in need of a skilled Cocoa programmer!)
Writeroom gives you monochrome full-screen editing in almost every application - very clever.
And for those moments when only a full word processor will do: Mellel is the way to go.

Now, just think what I could accomplish if I put as much effort into writing as I do into collecting tools...

300 - the movie

Frank Miller + Thermopylae + movie = terrible excitement. And it's only weeks away! Watch the trailer for gripping Spartan drama.
The movie is based on Frank Miller/Lynn Varleys graphic novel, one of my cherished treasures.
(Via Londonist.)

Sign of the times

Ionizing radiation is bad for you. Iaea hopes that this will be clear from now on.

However, the trefoil is a timeless design-classic, way prettier than the "improved" one.

Nature Takes revenge

...on Cat and Girl, in the form of a TERRIBLE BEAR!

Even the bombmakers want to quit

...pity that that their employers seem less keen:

The debate on nuclear weapons policy should focus on their elimination rather than on how many are needed in the coming years and how to build them, Martz said. He argued that technological advances to warhead stewardship and design have enabled the United States to protect itself as it slowly disarms.

"I'm trying to offer solutions that say, 'How can we get the benefits of deterrence without having to put thousands of warheads on hair-trigger alert?'" Martz added.