tim merritt [dot] net

A fascinating 90-second animation showing who has controlled the Middle east over the last 5000 years. I need to know more world history, for sure.

Via.

WordPress Plugin Update « After the Deadline.

A reminder to go and fix these when I’m home from work.

The New Facebook Privacy Settings: A How-To – Gadgetwise Blog – NYTimes.com.

It’s a foggy warmish Monday morning. I found this displayed in the window of a clothing shop one block away from my office. First I’ve heard of this.

This morning’s episode: painting your fingernails.

Posted via email from timmerritt’s posterous

Commonplaces from Making Light. Please read them all.

“We are prophets of a future not our own.” (Oscar Romero)

“Peace means something different from ‘not fighting’. Those aren’t peace advocates, they’re ‘stop fighting’ advocates. Peace is an active and complex thing and sometimes fighting is part of what it takes to get it.” (Jo Walton)

“You really think that safety can be plucked from the arms of an evil deed?” (Darla, “Inside Out”)

“The whole point of society is to be less unforgiving than nature.” (Arthur D. Hlavaty)

“Armageddon is not around the corner. This is only what the people of violence want us to believe. The complexity and diversity of the world is the hope for the future.” (Michael Palin)

“Just because you’re on their side doesn’t mean they’re on your side.” (Teresa Nielsen Hayden)

“Young men and women, educated very carefully to be apolitical, to be technicians who thought they disliked politics, making them putty in the hands of their rulers, like always.” (Kim Stanley Robinson, Red Mars)

(more…)

Since my brother gave me a nice bottle of Balvenie Single Barrel last year, I’ve tried other single malts: Laphroig, Macallan, Auchentoshan, and a few others. There’s much to be said for the very smoky Laphroig, and the Auchentoshan is very nice too, but Balvenie continues to be my favorite, both the single barrel he gave me (long gone, alas) and the 12-year-old double barrel.