John Emerson's blog

Populist

nobody@vox.com(John Emerson) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:46:43 -0500

My little booklet on information design hit the del.icio.us popular lists for design and visualization briefly, but making the politics list really made my day.

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Network Etiquette

nobody@vox.com(John Emerson) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 08:48:59 -0500

My phone has a limited amount of memory. At what point is it appropriate to remove the address and phone number of a friend who has passed? How many years do I carry his memory? Or do I keep accumulating until I or my phone ultimately expire?

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For a Limited Time

nobody@vox.com(John Emerson) — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 19:49:27 -0500

The street vendors on Astor Place who normally sell incense, rings, and artwork have piled their tables this new year's eve with paper hats and plastic horns: ephemera to mark the time.

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Top Headlines, 12/24

nobody@vox.com(John Emerson) — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 18:50:19 -0500

NBC Nightly News: Shopping
ABC World News Tonight: Shopping
CBS Evening News: Shopping
BBC World Service: The Queen says to care for those less fortunate. Also, she has a YouTube channel.

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Eating

nobody@vox.com(John Emerson) — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 19:56:52 -0500

Meeting this cold winters morning about a food blog. We huddle among the construction workers and fashion models at Vesuvio bakery, a last corner of old New York not yet consumed by the glitter of SoHo. Afterwards, a shivering walk to the subway, we inhale a snoot full of exhaust from a passing truck hauling fresh vegetables.

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Ed and Matt

nobody@vox.com(John Emerson) — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 14:37:36 -0500

Not eating.

Ed and Matt

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Hat

nobody@vox.com(John Emerson) — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 23:51:30 -0500

Hat

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L.

nobody@vox.com(John Emerson) — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 20:57:34 -0500

She was a quiet child who grew up in a rough home and mostly kept to herself. She wanted to study primates. She one day asked, "Are there other animals that cry?"

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Mile 10

nobody@vox.com(John Emerson) — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 15:38:25 -0500

Mile 10

Yay team!

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Sleepless

nobody@vox.com(John Emerson) — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 07:02:41 -0500

It's dark at night in Ko Tao — really dark. We are up the hill and there are no villages near by. It's a stark contrast from the blaze of the city. Here the black sky blends into the sea.

And yet the horizon is dotted with tiny, brilliant white lights. Other islands? A distant shoreline obscured during the hazy day? No, we learn, they are the lights of fishing boats. The lights attract the squid and the fish that come to eat them.

So after a thousand of years of being fished this way, why do the squid still seek the light? Is it an offensive or defensive instinct? A sign enemies in the territory? Or a hint of warmer waters? Are they also looking for things to eat that also seek the light?

Or is it something else — a tentacled memory of youth, a trace of playful times once under the dawn. A memory of others who might also turn towards the light. Out of the inky blackness of the sea and sky, alone in the long depth of the night, perhaps others might also come. Alone in the dark, seeking each other for one last tangled embrace.

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