Author Archives: Dan Nguyen

Columbus Circle, viewed from Jazz at Lincoln Center

Columbus Circle, viewed from Jazz at Lincoln Center, originally uploaded by zokuga.
Posted in thoughts | Leave a comment

Questionable Psychic #392: Missing Jacquelyn Kotarac

There’s no point in piling upon the sordid, awful, pointless death of Jacquelyn Kotarac, a respected 49-year-old doctor who apparently got stuck in the chimney of her estranged boyfriend’s home while trying to break in, and where she was found dead after her body decomposed. But this small related detail in the Bakersfield Californian follow-up [...]
Posted in thoughts | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

How Researchers Keep Their Bedbugs Alive

The NYT looks at the scientific research side of bedbugs. It’s as gross as you might expect: The classic bedbug strain that all newly caught bugs are compared against is a colony originally from Fort Dix, N.J., that a researcher kept alive for 30 years by letting it feed on him. But Stephen A. Kells, [...]
Posted in thoughts | Tagged | Leave a comment

Col. Lawrence Sellin, Ph.D: F*** Powerpoint, Afghanistan edition

Colonel Sellin, who was fired from his post after writing this awesomely frank description of his duties as staff officer at ISAF Joint Command in Afghanistan for UPI. Excerpting doesn’t do it justice, but here are some highlights: For headquarters staff, war consists largely of the endless tinkering with PowerPoint slides to conform with the [...]
Posted in thoughts | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Summer’s Almost Over (Battery Park)

Battery Park, originally uploaded by zokuga. Sigh.
Posted in visuals | Leave a comment

“If you can sleep with it, do it”; New Orleans cops given orders to shoot looters

New evidence and reports showing that New Orleans police were given orders to shoot looters in order to take back the city after Hurricane Katrina, a fundamental change in use-of-force policies. This gives some context to the reports of innocents gunned down during that chaotic time. The story is the result of an investigation by [...]
Posted in thoughts | Leave a comment

BP Claims Tracker

Posted in thoughts | Leave a comment

Settlers of Catan: A peaceful “Monopoly Killer”

Just finished reading this 2009 Wired piece by Andrew Curry on the popularity of Settlers of Catan, which apparently is the “Mona Lisa” of modern board gaming. The most interesting insights to me were how board games are so popular in Germany that major media review them with the same seriousness as they do movies [...]
Posted in thoughts | Leave a comment

Wikileaks Julian Assange, Ralph-Nadered in Swedish Rape Case?

In retrospect: I used the rightfully-maligned practice of putting a question in a headline to state something which is just pure speculation. I don’t mean to speculate (the rape case has since been dropped, but the molestation charges haven’t), but was more interested in how just about anything Assange-related, particularly in this timeframe, should be [...]
Posted in thoughts | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Rep. Ron Paul shows how conservatism is done, re: Cordoba House

In contrast to my previous post on Republican U.S. House candidate Ron McNeil telling schoolkids that Islam is the enemy, Rep. Ron Paul demonstrates what happens when you take conservatism to its logical end (and in the process, showing up even Democrats when it comes to protecting civil rights): I think it’s a big distraction, [...]
Posted in thoughts | Tagged , , | Leave a comment