Mark Pilgrim on achieving simplicity.
The TSA sent armed agents to two bloggers’ homes to force them to disclose their source for a document they blogged detailing new screening procedures. That sounds somewhat unsurprising, except: the document was sent out to every airport and airline in the country and other airports internationally, more than 10,000 recipients, and it wasn’t classified.
Frischling, a freelance travel writer and photographer in Connecticut who writes a blog for the KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, said the two agents who visited him arrived around 7 p.m. Tuesday, were armed and threatened him with a criminal search warrant if he didn’t provide the name of his source. They also threatened to get him fired from his KLM job and indicated they could get him designated a security risk, which would make it difficult for him to travel and do his job.
Wow. I feel safer.
PhotoSketch looks simply magic. Unbelievable. (via HN)
Aaron Swartz posts his FBI file. You can get one of your own by downloading over 19 million pages from a database of publically available federal court records.
Ford hacks the tax code to bring a 25% tariff down to a 2.5% one.
Customs officials won’t discuss individual company’s strategies, but Stephen Biegun, Ford’s vice president for international governmental affairs, says the practice complies with the letter of the law. “We are free-traders, full stop.”
The New York Times featured this amazing profile of Jure Robic back in 2006, but it popped up on Hacker News today. This is one to definitely read.
In the spirit of this, this, this, and this (warning: painful idiocy), I present Dan Brown Rewrites My Ledger. Ahem.
Doublemint Gum – $0.25
Extra Bottle of Pingus (for homeless dude) – $799.99
Strunk & White – $9.95
Lighter Fluid – $3.77
Matches – $0.99
Golden Altar w/ Diamond Skulls – $100k
Golden Altar w/o Diamond Skulls – $76k
Norton Antivirus – $59.99
Two Chicks at the Same Time – $8,600
Rare Ed. Sidney Sheldon – $3Balance: f.u.
On the heels of Obama scrapping the missile defense shield in Europe, Wired has a crazy-entertaining story about Russia’s Dead Hand.
A graphic goldmine of comic artists making covers for classics. My favorite.