From “List of confidence tricks” (Wikipedia: 3 July 2009):
Get-rich-quick schemes
Get-rich-quick schemes are extremely varied. For example, fake franchises, real estate “sure things”, get-rich-quick books, wealth-building seminars, self-help gurus, sure-fire inventions, useless products, chain letters, fortune tellers, quack doctors, miracle pharmaceuticals, Nigerian money scams, charms and talismans are all used to separate the mark from his [...]
Posted on July 5th, 2009 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: business, history, law, science, security | No Comments »
From Larry McCaffery’s “Conversation with David Foster Wallace” (Dalkey Archive Press at the University of Illinois: Summer 1993):
For me, the last few years of the postmodern era have seemed a bit like the way you feel when you’re in high school and your parents go on a trip, and you throw a party. You get [...]
Posted on July 5th, 2009 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: art, history, language & literature, on writing | No Comments »
From David Foster Wallace’s “Laughing With Kafka” (Harper’s Magazine: July 1998, pg. 26):
… the really central Kafka joke – that the horrific struggle to establish a human self results in a self whose humanity is inseparable from that horrific struggle. That our endless and impossible journey toward home is in fact our home.
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Posted on April 18th, 2009 by Scott Granneman
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From David Pogue’s “TED’s Greatest Hits” (The New York Times: 10 February 2009):
Kamal Meattle reported the results of his efforts to fill an office building with plants, in an effort to reduce headache, asthma, and other productivity-sapping aliments in thickly polluted India. After researching NASA documents, he concluded that a set of three particular common, [...]
Posted on March 4th, 2009 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: cool stuff, science | No Comments »
Robert Salisbury
From “Man scammed by Craigslist ad” (The Seattle Times: 24 March 2008):
The ads popped up Saturday afternoon, saying the owner of a Jacksonville home was forced to leave the area suddenly and his belongings, including a horse, were free for the taking, said Jackson County sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Colin Fagan.
But Robert Salisbury had no [...]
Posted on November 22nd, 2008 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: law, security, tech in changing society | No Comments »
From BBC News’ “Council admits spying on family” (10 April 2008):
A council has admitted spying on a family using laws to track criminals and terrorists to find out if they were really living in a school catchment.
A couple and their three children were put under surveillance without their knowledge by Poole Borough Council [...]
Posted on November 20th, 2008 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: security, technology | No Comments »
From Brendan I. Koerner’s “Is a Dishwasher a Green Machine?” (Slate: 22 April 2008):
To really green up your automatic dishwashing, you should always use the air-drying function, avoid the profligate “rinse hold” setting, wash only full loads, and install the machine far away from your refrigerator.
…
Just promise that you’ll scrape your dishes instead of pre-rinsing, [...]
Posted on April 22nd, 2008 by Scott Granneman
Filed under: science | No Comments »
