Death by a Thousand Cuts

In his October 2004 address to the American people, bin Laden noted that the 9/11 attacks cost al Qaeda only a fraction of the damage inflicted upon the United States. “Al Qaeda spent $500,000 on the event,” he said, “while America in the incident and its aftermath lost — according to the lowest estimates — more than $500 billion, meaning that every dollar of al Qaeda defeated a million dollars.”

Al Queda doesn’t have to do much to make us do a lot.

Death by a Thousand Cuts - By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross | Foreign Policy

127 Hours

And that’s why you always leave a note.

—J. Walter Weatherman

I’ve been a fan of Danny Boyle’s films since Trainspotting, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to go see 127 Hours. A movie based on the true story of a hiker who gets trapped under a rock and has to cut off his own arm? Wouldn’t that be unbearable to watch? Turns out, yes and no.

Honestly, if you’re squeamish, you can still watch this movie. The whole thing is tense, but it only gets really bad for about two minutes. If you’re worried you can’t take the arm-cutting, here’s my advice: after about an hour and fifteen minutes, he realizes what he has to do. The scene starts with him breaking his own arm. When that happens, leave the theater for three minutes, then come back. You’ll be fine and he’ll be free.

I stayed, and it was an overwhelming but rewarding experience. When he finally gets free, my heart rate was elevated and I took a bunch of hurried breaths to release the tension. It’s amazing what James Franco pulls off, doing a whole movie stuck in what looks like a tiny chasm. He has to carry the film single handedly, so to speak, and does.

April 11, 1954

Every day something of significance happens, a person is born who is destined for fame, there is an event in the arts or sports, history is created. With 300 million of these facts fed into the “brain” of True Knowledge, Tunstall-Pedoe’s Cambridge company, the computer was asked: “What was the most boring day in the 20th century?”

April 11, 1954, apparently.

Christmas Playlist 2010

I’ve been very carefully building a Christmas playlist for the past few years. I only add one song a year, and I only listen to the songs on the list between Thanksgiving and the Epiphany. There are now ten songs on the list.

1. “The Fairytale of New York” by The Pogues
2. “Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley
3. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” by Judy Garland
4. “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” by John Lennon
5. “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby
6. “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” by Dean Martin
7. (New) “The Christmas Song” by Nat “King” Cole
8. “Baby It’s Cold Outside” by Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Jordan
9. “Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy” by David Bowie & Bing Crosby
10. “Merry Xmas Everybody” by Slade

Previously

Apple Makes Find My iPhone Free

Macworld reports that the “Find My iPhone” service will be free for all iOS 4.2 users starting today. “Find My iPhone” lets you locate your iPhone from any Web browser or iOS device in case your phone is lost or stolen, or you want to track your spouse/children.

Schneier on Backscatter X-Ray Machines

Security expert Bruce Schneier has posted a great roundup of links to news stories and studies about the use of x-ray backscatter machines in airports.

Personally I do sympathize with the TSA’s charge to protect us from planes getting blown up or hijacked but think these machines go over the line. Here’s my simple test: imagine that instead of using these machines to take a naked x-ray picture of you, the TSA required you to step behind a screen and undress in front of one of their agents while they take your picture (which they claim they won’t retain).

I think we’d be far safer spending the $300-400 million we spent on these scanners to instead hire air marshals. As Schneier points out, the shoe and underwear bombers were caught by humans noticing something wrong, not machines.

Meanwhile in the TARDIS

Two excellent deleted scenes from the most recent season of Doctor Who. (via)

Eat a Bagel, Lose Your Baby

The ACLU of Pennsylvania recently filed a civil rights lawsuit on behalf of a couple whose newborn baby was kidnapped by Lawrence County Children and Youth Services (LCCYS) because her mother recklessly consumed an “everything” bagel from Dunkin’ Donuts the day before the birth. Jameson Hospital, where Isabella Rodriguez was born on April 27, has a policy of testing expectant mothers’ urine for illegal drugs and reporting positive results to LCCYS, even without any additional evidence that the baby is in danger of neglect or abuse. LCCYS, in turn, has a policy of seizing such babies from their homes based on nothing more than the test result. Unfortunately for Isabella’s parents, Elizabeth Mort and Alex Rodriguez, Jameson sets the cutoff level for its opiate test so low that it can be triggered by poppy seeds, which is why two caseworkers and two Neshannock Township police officers visited their home the day after baby and mother returned from the hospital. LCCYS seized the three-day-old girl and put her in foster care for five days before conceding it had made a mistake.

Eat a Bagel, Lose Your Baby - Hit & Run : Reason Magazine. My memory of when Mythbusters tested this is that they found even a few bites of something with poppy seeds will set off a drug test. (via)

What The Old Timers Used To Call Cabin Fever

From left to right, every costume change Jack makes in The Shining.

The Washington Post for iPad

The Washington Post App for iPad (iTunes link)

I’ve used this a bit in the past few days and like it a lot. It feels snappier than The New York Times’s iPad app. I find it easy to browse through the sections and read stories I’m interested in. Easier than using the webpage.

A few niggles:

• I think prefer pagination to scrolling for long articles on the iPad (as opposed to on the Web), but here I don’t mind it much.
• They’ve locked out copy and paste, which is silly.
• The ever-present ad bar at the bottom seems like wasted space. Maybe the ads could float in/around the articles instead? Worse is the floating social media bar thing. It’s a lot of pixels at the bottom of the page I’m just ignoring. It’s early, though. Maybe they’ll make good use of it.