Okay, these are the links you should be reading on the Internet today.
- A smart diagram is the new clever writing: LeisureArts charts out my favorite snowclone. I covered similar topics before in The Story of America and Do you love words? The diagram is excerpted here.
- The New York Times reports on Justin Timberlakeās new audience. āUnlike his former boy-band colleagues, Mr. Timberlake has even won over musicians who prefer lo-fi thrash to the slicker sounds of mainstream albums.ā These hipsters could have been five years ahead of the curve if theyād just have listened to me.
- Misidentified Black Person of the Week. A disturbingly familiar story about mistaken captions, which references my post about the same topic a couple of years ago. Somehow this really stuck with me, perhaps because I was reading this cogent explanation of the problem with āarticulateā at the same time. āIt is amazing that this still requires clarification, but here it is. Black people get a little testy when white people call them āarticulateā.ā So, two notes for editors: Get peopleās names right, and be respectful. Not so hard!
- Speaking of respect, Why didnāt Prince get electrocuted while playing electric guitar in the rain at the Superbowl? Because heās Prince, people!
- So it turns out there actually may be some Hunanese origins for General Tsoās chicken. Iāve been using General Tsoās chicken as the definitive example of how I became clueful about eating good food (āItās not even a real Chinese dish ā Iām a dummy!ā), but I like this story of how itās a creation of cross-cultural entrepreneurism even better. I wonder if my family members in Taiwan have ever tried the ādelectable concoction of lightly battered chicken in a chili-laced sweet-sour sauceā.
- Iām hoping danah wonāt be offended if I call her defense of walled gardens articulate. Itās also thought-provoking, which is high praise indeed.
- On the flip side of the walled garden conversation is PBās ongoing onfocus series about getting off the grid. The technology here is interesting, but Iām enjoying watching the thought process behind the coding that Paul has been doing.
- And finally, Google is going to start to charge some businesses for Google Apps for Your Domain. I find that refreshing and reassuring.