Media /// Forward

Let’s talk about morality. Can you justify owning stock in companies that are treating the Earth like a prison pillow with a crayon face? Of course you can, but it takes some mental gymnastics. I’m here to help.

If you buy stock in a despicable company, it means some of the previous owners of that company sold it to you. If the stock then rises more than the market average, you successfully screwed the previous owners of the hated company. That’s exactly like justice, only better because you made a profit. Then you can sell your stocks for a gain and donate all of your earnings to good causes, such as education for your own kids.

—

Scott Adams, reliably hilarious

See also his points on technical analysis of investments and Apple stock. 

Dilbert’s Scott Adams on Betting on the Bad Guys in Investing - WSJ.com

Le Monde was founded in 1944 on the principles of political and economic independence, and its journalists hold a majority stake in publishing company Le Monde SA through a complex shareholding structure. They have the power to dismiss the editor-in-chief and the publisher.

—

Interesting structure — wonder how much of the paper’s troubles come from internal strife vs. a changing business. Are any other papers structured this way?

France’s Le Monde Seeks A Buyer — WSJ

To just say someone threw a drink in someone’s face at a bar, at the Boom Boom Room?” he said, wrinkling his nose. “No, no.

—

Stephen Drucker, Editor, Town & Country

Town and Country Magazine Tries to Broaden Readership - NYTimes.com

Laser Show

Phrase of the month: laser show.

I know I’m obsessed. It will subside soon.

randomsox:

To the fans of New England: Everybody can be [expletive] happy when you’re [expletive] 30-1, but what is everybody going to do when we’re 12-14? Are you going to show up to work the next day and write an [expletive] story? Hell no. You’re going to write the best story of your life. We’re going to try and play the best [expletive] game of our life tomorrow. That’s what you’ve got to do when you’re 12-14. Don’t put your head down and mope. Grind it out. You believe. That’s what we’re built on.

— Red Sox 2B Dustin Pedroia (via redsoxthoughts)

Last.fm > Pandora

I don’t usually write about music because I don’t believe I have particularly avant-garde taste, but Last.fm is so much better than Pandora I feel compelled.

I used Pandora for the past few years, mostly at work. I don’t stream music all that often, but about two months I got tired of my library and had an itch for something new that I didn’t know how to scratch. Pandora kept playing the same songs over again. Snooze.

Last.fm I tried because it’s on my XBox 360 (how’s that for acquisition on other platforms?), and let it fly during a party. It was good, and I had already set up a free account.

Now I use Last.fm all the time. The music selection is more diverse and more nuanced, I think. For example, while listening to an Owl City-themed radio station, I heard a really familiar voice that I couldn’t place. Happily, Last.fm gives lots of artist information right on the radio page: Dan Black, it turns out, was previously the singer of The Servant, a defunct British band that I always liked and forgotten about in the depths of iTunes. I’ll probably buy his debut album this week.

Pandora certainly has a more streamlined UI than Last.fm, but I prefer more information to less; I particularly like Last.fm’s list of the last few tracks I’ve listened to, artist info and performance dates.

One thing I can’t understand, though, is why Last.fm doesn’t have a pause button like Pandora: if I want to stop, I have to restart the station when I come back.

Ultimately, of course, it’s about the music — and Last.fm does it better.