September 2009
24 posts
Online retailer Newegg files for $175 million IPO →
Newegg is absolutely one of my favorite online retailers. What sets them apart is their focus on getting things out quickly and accurately from their warehouses. AnandTech has a great tour (single page) of one of their incredible warehouses, full of computer controlled bins that zip around to the correct spot on a shelf and weigh the products before packing to ensure accuracy.
A couple years...
Recent Miami University grad dies of swine flu →
This is one of us. A recent college grad, no health insurance, presumably because her school insurance dried up and she couldn’t afford insurance at the time.
Young became ill about two weeks ago, but didn’t seek care initially because she didn’t have health insurance and was worried about the cost, according to Brent Mowery, her friend and former roommate.
We should be ashamed.
U.S. and Allies Warn Iran Over Nuclear ‘Deception’... →
Good summary of the intelligence information that came out yesterday about Iran’s secret enrichment plant.
Mr. Obama’s aides and a raft of intelligence officials argued that the small, hidden plant was unsuitable for producing reactor fuel that might be used in a peaceful nuclear program. Moreover, its location, deep inside an Iranian Revolutionary Guards base about 20 miles from the...
Do You Have the Right to Flip Off a Cop? - TIME →
Yes, you do. But apparently police don’t often know this, or don’t care (at least in Pittsburgh, but I suspect elsewhere).
Chase and Bank of America Revise Policies on... →
Instead of lumping a day’s worth of debit card and A.T.M. transactions together and then processing the highest amounts first…[Chase] will credit the transactions chronologically. Chase also plans to allow customers to opt out of overdraft coverage.
College students around the country rejoice. It would have been cheaper for me to pay the interest on a small student loan than to pay all...
Why do some coins have ridges? →
Reeds were first put on the edges of coins back in the days when coins contained precious metals such as gold or silver. It was a common practice for crooks to shave off a tiny amount of metal all the way around the rim of a lot of coins, collect the shavings, and sell them to a metal dealer.
South Koreans do the 'right' thing -- LA Times →
As part of a government campaign to get pedestrians to stop taking the left side, the directions of escalators and stairs in the capital have been switched.
The next generation bends over →
Jason Fried of 37signals is not happy about Intuit’s acquisition of Mint.
Here’s a fresh new company that was gunning for an aging incumbent. And not only gunning, but gaining. They had a great product, great design, and great potential. They were growing rapidly and figured out the revenue game. They were on their way to redefining an industry — one that was left for dead by the current...
The State of the Web Design Profession →
Noah Stokes thinks we can do better:
Let’s face it, we are a low hanging fruit. Anyone can design a site. And everyone’s neighbor’s step-cousin’s twin can code it. You don’t need to be certified, you don’t need to be licensed by the state, or submitted to the cruelty known as the Bar Exam.…
Now, just because we’re not a licensed profession,...
“An insurance company’s “reprehensible” decision to rescind a South Carolina...”
– Courthouse News Service (via squashed)
About those death panels…
The [Fortis Insurance Co.] committee that decides whether to revoke policies heard Mitchell’s case and 45 others in a two-hour session. Court records showed the members were given a report from an underwriter that...
“How have things changed on the ground since Obama took over?
Obama is slowly...”
– IAmA (i.e. “I am a doctor”) is a ‘subreddit’ on reddit.com where individuals post anonymously so the reddit community can ask questions. This question-response is from I just got back from my 3rd deployment in Afghanistan. I lost count after I killed 15 human beings. Ask me...
Defenestration →
Defenestration is the act of throwing someone or something out of a window.
Cheese or Font? →
Found on MetaFilter, by @mogrify
FDA panel urges HPV vaccine be given to males →
A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee voted Wednesday to recommend that the vaccine be made available to boys and young men aged 9 to 26 for protection against genital warts caused by HPV.
Cursors don't display correctly in Photoshop CS4... →
Issue
Cursors don’t display correctly in Adobe Photoshop CS4 if there’s a window open that contains Flash content. This occurs after you update to Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard).
Solution
Update your version of Flash Player to the most recent version.
Oh, yes, the classic problem of needing to upgrade your browser plugins to ensure that your image editing software...
SVGWeb Brings SVG Support to Internet Explorer →
The open graphics format called scalable vector graphics (SVG), and the animation of it, has not seen much use on the web, despite becoming a W3C recommendation about 8 years ago. Why? Lack of support in Internet Explorer ….
Google, realizing the widespread installed user base of Flash (probably >95% of users), decided to basically implement SVG through Flash so that anyone who...
