Put away your asterisks | MetaFilter

Put away your asterisks | MetaFilter

A really great post on Performance Enhancing Drugs in baseball.

Annals of Innovation: In the Air: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker

Annals of Innovation: In the Air: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker: "“Lowell is the living example of something better than the Internet,” Jung said after the meeting was over. “On the Internet, you can search for whatever you want, but you have to know the right terms. With Lowell, you just give him a concept, and this stuff pops out.”"

Eric Haseltine (kottke.org)

Eric Haseltine (kottke.org): "Right at the end of the session, interviewer Jane Mayer asked Haseltine if perhaps the Bush administration is overreacting to terrorism...if the mindset that danger lurks everywhere is appropriate and realistic. He replied that since he got involved in the intelligence community, he doesn't sleep well at night. 'I know too much.'"

Dear Shaun, at bluishorange

Dear Shaun, at bluishorange

A few notes on perfectionism and writing.

Hack your way out of writer's block | 43 Folders

Hack your way out of writer's block | 43 Folders

Hack your way out of writer's block | 43 Folders

Hack your way out of writer's block | 43 Folders

Necessity Is the Mother Of Invention - New York Times

Necessity Is the Mother Of Invention - New York Times: "Smith's entire life is like one of her inventions, portable and off the grid. At 41, she has no kids, no car, no retirement plan and no desire for a Ph.D. Her official title: instructor. ''I'm doing exactly what I want to be doing. Why would I spend six years to get a Ph.D. to be in the position I'm in now, but with a title after my name? M.I.T. loves that I'm doing this work. The support is there. So I don't worry.'' It was a good thing that she won the Collegiate Inventors award in 1999, she says, because back then she was stretching a three-month graduate-student stipend to last for a year and didn't know how she'd pay her rent. The $7,500 prize came just in time."

Necessity Is the Mother Of Invention - New York Times

Necessity Is the Mother Of Invention - New York Times: "Today, Smith is training them to do that. Using a small pump, the students draw the Charles River water through a filter. Smith points to a piece of the testing rig -- what looks like a silver barbell. ''This test stand costs $600,'' she says. ''Personally, I find that offensive.'' When the students work in the field, she says, they will be using a far cheaper setup -- one that she patched together herself for about $20, using a Playtex baby bottle. ''You can do a lot more testing for the same amount of money.''"

Can You Become a Creature of New Habits? - New York Times

Can You Become a Creature of New Habits? - New York Times