The Daily Dozen

1. White House says stimulus won't be a quick fix. If so, then why such a rush to vote on the stimulus bill? Unfortunately, I think we all know the answer.
2. A review of Rhodia notepads. The one notebook I might like better than a Moleskine. They're cheaper, have just as good a quality of paper, come in a variety of sizes -- from 3" x 4" to 16.5" x 12.5", and have perforated pages which make me feel more prone to doodle ideas than I do in a Moleskine. For more permanent stuff like journaling, I'd probably prefer a Moleskine (or the Rhodia ePure journal), but for day-to-day note-taking (which is 90% of what I do with a notebook), I'd prefer Rhodia. You can buy them here and here. See photos of them on Flickr.
3. Four types of human capital?
4. Taking manual control over your digital camera.
5. Traveling without planning. I'm a big fan of leaving room for spontaneity in travel. (When I traveled to New Zealand and Australia, the only plans I made beforehand were making reservations for my first night in Auckland and my first two nights in Syndey. It was one of the best trips I've ever taken.) What I'd recommend over traveling with a cot like these guys do is to travel with a Therma-Rest ProLite or NeoAir. They pack flat in your luggage, take up virtually no room, and weigh a pound or less. (Less than a third of what the cots weigh.) I had an older version of this that I've used on multiple camping and hiking trips and it came in handy on my last trip to Europe as well. I'd recommend the full-length (regular) size.
6. Kindle 2 apps to code if Amazon had a Kindle App Store. An App Store for the Kindle is a brilliant idea! Let's hope that comes some day.
7. Mexico: A Western Somalia? That might make some anarchists happy, but not the rest of us.
8. Jim Crow was a product of the government.
   
9. Antarctic tourism is down. An effect of the global slowdown that ought to make the enviornmentalists happy. My trip to Antarctica remains one of the most amazing trips I've ever taken.
   
10. Love makes you fat? And it turns out that if it doesn't, it might not be love.
    
11. Order these free books for your Kindle 2 before they disappear. I better get on this. My Kindle 2 is expected to arrive on February 25th.
12. Microsoft is opening retail stores? I dunno. Somehow the lack of standardized hardware seems like this will make it a much tougher go than Apple Stores. The beauty of an Apple Store is that the Mac Geniuses know about every piece of hardware and software they sell. This is almost certain to not be true of Microsoft.