Archive for October 24th, 2011

Anniversaries.

Monday, October 24th, 2011

A few people made note of the 10th anniversary of the iPod over the weekend.

That’s pretty nifty. But today is the 150th anniversary of the completion of the first transcontinental telegraph line, which is even more significant (in my humble opinion).

The article I linked above does a pretty good job of explaining the significance of the telegraph, especially by making an analogy with the Internet. It surprises me a little that the article doesn’t quote Tom Standage at all, however: his The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century’s On-line Pioneers is basically a book-length examination of the early history of the telegraph, and draws heavily on the telegraph-Internet analogy.

If you haven’t already read it, I enthusiastically recommend Standage’s book. He’s a good writer, and the early history of the telegraph is a fascinating subject. (For example, how much do you know about Thomas Edison, other than the standard facts? Did you ever realize Edison was basically a hacker? He was able to build Menlo Park out of the money he got for banging on early telegraph machines.)

Posted in Apple, Clippings, Geek, History | Comments Closed

Unintended consequences.

Monday, October 24th, 2011

While we’re on the subject of the slaughter of the innocents, I wanted to throw up a link to this NYT story.

The closing of the country’s last meat processing plant that slaughtered horses for human consumption was hailed as a victory for equine welfare. But five years later just as many American horses are destined for dinner plates to satisfy the still robust appetites for their meat in Europe and Asia.

…

As the domestic market for unwanted horses shrinks, more are being neglected and abandoned, and roughly the same number — nearly 140,000 a year — are being killed after a sometimes grueling journey across the border.

…

The effect of the standoff has been deeply felt in rural states like Nebraska. Horse breeders and the owners of livestock auctions say that eliminating slaughter basically removed the floor for horse prices, allowing the market to collapse and forcing many out of the business. One reason, they say, is that owners are now forced to pay hundreds of dollars to euthanize and dispose of unwanted horses when they used to receive about that much to sell them to slaughterhouses.

Posted in Clippings, Horses | Comments Closed

Your loser update: week 7, 2011.

Monday, October 24th, 2011

NFL teams that still have a chance to go 0-16:

Miami
Indianapolis (Wow.)
St. Louis

Posted in Loser, NFL, Sports | Comments Closed