Apparently, some of you folks don’t have to go to work today. Aren’t you special. Since I’m clearly bitter for not having the day off, let’s cut the commentary and get straight to the links:
- From the “Things That Make You Go Huh” file, something seemingly obvious that never occurred to me: endless storage on gmail–>rarely deleting email messages–>lots of servers using tons of energy–>negative environmental impact due to archived musings from friends and frantic “OMG!@!11 NEW STAR TREK MOVIE TRAILER” messages from Jarred.
- Speaking of email, here’s a (currently) free service that allows users to track whether email recipients click-through on links in their messages. Kind of creepy if you ask me, though anyone who receives political campaign or corporate email (frequent flier promotions, etc) should know that they’re already tracked in this way.
- For anyone interested in philanthropy and social ventures, Tactical Philanthropy highlights a goldmine of free articles from the Stanford Social Innovation Review. Stanford usually publishes their articles behind a pay-wall, but for a limited time they’re allowing free access to 2007’s most popular articles, including (my personal favorite) “A New Era for Business.”
- An interesting Washington Post article on guerrilla activism–environmental activists inserted leaflets in Kleenex boxes accusing the tissue maker of “wiping away ancient forests.” Is this really a trend?
“The leaflets may be part of a trend known as “shopdropping,” in which people leave items at a store, the reverse of shoplifting. Items left on store shelves have included the business cards of personal trainers tucked into weight-loss books and CDs of unsigned musicians.”
- Anyone looking at the Democratic primary deadlock and wondering about the original purpose behind Super Delegates should check out this Op-Ed by the estimable Mann and Ornstein. The authors are insightful as always, but I still view a nomination decided by Super Delegates to be a worst-case scenario in terms of future voter engagement and turnout in the general election.
- Finally, in honor of Presidents Day, take a few pointers from George Washington’s “Rules of Civility.”
Enjoy your day off………
