The violent unrest in Bahrain, as drawn by children. This world.
People who served an equivalent number of days as President: John Kerry, Al Gore, John McCain, me. I spent less for the privilege.
With the revelation that the President's campaign headquarters is a Mac shop, Romney can kiss the young, urban vote goodbye.
Ugh. Riverside Park seems to have an infestation of drum circlers. Calling 311.
Good analysis of what the racial composition of the November electorate will be, with an interesting buried point: people of color were more likely to be displaced during the recession, making turnout for them even harder.
- Go to John Boehner's website.
- Scroll to the bottom.
- Click 'GOP Solutions'.
Via @saralibby. [ Also from @saralibby. ]
Two members of the House want to lift a governmental ban on distributing propaganda to Americans.
Why didn't Facebook's stock drop below $38? Because the people who priced it there didn't want it to.
Joe Weisenthal has the overview here, but the following video, via Alexis Madrigal, shows how it worked in near real-time.
As the price got near $38, the underwriters who set that price moved in to place huge buys that kept the price at that level. But, as the video explains, high frequency traders knew they would. So they could feel confident at a few cents above $38 in taking a profit, knowing that the stock would keep hovering at that level. That's why it stayed near $38 for minutes on end at launch.
The problem, as Chris Dixon notes:
Closing at opening price is fine. The risk here is what happens when underwriters stop propping it up.
- chris dixon (@cdixon) May 18, 2012
Some are arguing that the stock price was accurate at $38. If so, the underwriters shouldn't need to prop it up in the future. If they don't, and the price was too high for the market, the price will drop. At least one firm thinks that will happen.
This is basically my opinion of Facebook's big day.
Hostile and generally uninformed.
Does the success of Facebook presage the end of an era in Silicon Valley?
The argument:
If I have a choice of investing in a blockbuster cancer drug that will pay me nothing for ten years, at best, whereas social media will go big in two years, what do you think I'm going to pick?
This is a fascinating photo gallery showing how oil is extracted from tar sands. An ugly process, all the way along.
Via @drgrist. [ Also from @drgrist. ]
What makes a stock photo a stock photo. The expertise in anticipating desired imagery.
In the basement of Facebook headquarters is a screenprinting studio. Which is awesome.
During the Cold War, people were really freaked out about psychedelic drug attacks.
Brilliant: the censorship towel.
Via @qpslgs. [ Also from @qpslgs. ]
Great point by Ryan McCarthy: Friendster and MySpace both allow you to log in with your Facebook account.
Facebook blew up because of the public timeline. But its ongoing strength derives from its infrastructural position on the web -- so useful that even one-time competitors employ it.
How does an average Joe get a share of Facebook stock? Not easily, if at all.
"Remember Facebook?" - everyone, someday
"Bono of U2 will make more on his @Facebook investment than his entire music career." - @CNBC
— Laughing Squid (@LaughingSquid) May 18, 2012
Worth is disconnected from value.
An old friend attributes Mark Zuckerberg's leadership skills to playing Civilization. He probably didn't play on "Chieftain".
Fortune, on Friendster in 2003: "There may be a new kind of Internet emerging--one more about connecting people to people than people to websites."
Via @counterparties. [ Also from @counterparties. ]
Raw magazine's form rejection letter. Seems to cover all the bases.
Via @lettersofnote. [ Also from @lettersofnote. ]
A good summary of why the trace amounts of marijuana in Trayvon's blood are meaningless.
Via @stevesilberman. [ Also from @stevesilberman. ]
Added to the DC crime blotter alongside the House office break-ins: a burglary at Justice Breyer's house.
These things seem related to me.
A mixing board that only requires a sheet of paper.
This, from here.
A font set that replaces words with glyphs.
Not sure how they're related. But.
A man was arrested in Bangkok for carrying six "roasted" human fetuses covered in gold leaf. That's illegal?
Via @breakingnews. [ Also from @breakingnews. ]
MSNBC has a terrific gallery of photos from 1955 New York, found in a Queens attic.
Lots of good media pics. This was basically Twitter:
Via @hudsonette. [ Also from @hudsonette. ]
Krugman explains Europe's calamity:
When the euro came into existence, there was a great wave of optimism in Europe -- and that, it turned out, was the worst thing that could have happened. Money poured into Spain and other nations, which were now seen as safe investments; this flood of capital fueled huge housing bubbles and huge trade deficits. Then, with the financial crisis of 2008, the flood dried up, causing severe slumps in the very nations that had boomed before.
At that point, Europe's lack of political union became a severe liability. Florida and Spain both had housing bubbles, but when Florida's bubble burst, retirees could still count on getting their Social Security and Medicare checks from Washington. Spain receives no comparable support. So the burst bubble turned into a fiscal crisis, too.
The piece goes on to explain how the union can be saved: in short, by fixing the problem above.
Thursday
A few hundred years after battling witches, Salem turned its eyes to another vile scourge: saxophones.
Via @atlanticcities. [ Also from @atlanticcities. ]
The Times has a great infographic on tech stock IPOs over time. (Note that there are five views.)
Via @nickbilton. [ Also from @nickbilton. ]
What would a city comprised only of Lego sets look like? Like the kind of city people who play with Legos would enjoy.