This is a nice reminder that using social media is a choice, not an obligation.

The Atlantic has a very nice story about a recent Ask MetaFilter question.

Jason Shellen talks about the origin of Google Reader.

Interesting alternative to the daily (hourly?) dose of information; gorging once/week. $1.99/month.

One Thing Well has a nice roundup of the Google Reader fallout and commentary. The verdict: no replacement yet but many are scrambling to get something working.

shit sandwich.

Photography from the National Geographic archives.

Photography from the New York Times archives.

This is a nice little folding stool. I'd like to make this. Maybe with a canvas seat instead of leather.

I miss the old Google Reader sharing features too. It'll be interesting to see if this new effort will get enough users to make the sharing features work as well as they did at Google. [via waxy]

I love the historic design aesthetic of this new Submarine Cable Map.

This is a nice take on the idea that Everything is Amazing and Nobody is Happy. "Science fiction didn’t see the mobile phone coming. It certainly didn’t see the glowing glass windows many of us carry now, where we make amazing things happen by pointing at it with our fingers like goddamn wizards." [via merlin] See Also: The future is already here, it just isn't evenly distributed.

"These constructions acknowledge a truth: our actions are increasingly passive online, and we really are just looking for something to watch, click, share and receive."

Twitter uses Mechanical Turk to give meaning to search phrase spikes so they can serve relevant ads. It calls the Mechanical Turk folks 'judges'. "The judges are like little focus groups that match intent with revenue."

"...half of the nation's deadliest shootings occurred after the [federal assault weapons] ban expired [in 2004]."