This is awful. What’s even more awful is that according to CCTV’s numbers, this is just a speck compared to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. CCTV reports that this was about 400,000 gallons of oil compared to the estimated 94-184 million gallons for the BP spill. (CCTV’s numbers should usually be taken with a grain of salt, but still.)

Still a very good team, but decidedly thinner than last year, that’s for sure.

Tool – “Stinkfist (Live)”

Great song from a Tool album that I’ve come back to in the last couple days. Some noise/atmospheric tracks on here, but just some absolute stunners as well. This song is one of them.

An absolute scorcher today. Am I questioning my decision to stay in Beijing for the summer?

You betcha.

Lightning strikes three of the tallest buildings in Chicago at the same time! from Craig Shimala on Vimeo.

via Daring Fireball

WTF?!?!

Is this a Chicago Sun-Times thing, or just someone on their website staff having a laugh?

The Retina Display is emblematic of the iPhone 4 as a whole, both hardware and software: the same fundamental idea as the original iPhone, but clarified.

More on the new display:

…it’s that the LCD is so much closer to the surface of the glass. Like pixels on glass rather than pixels under glass. This is the result of a new manufacturing process Apple has pioneered. No other company gives a shit about things like this.

And talking about durability:

And, for obvious reasons, the glass back raises concerns about the iPhone 4’s droppability. With previous iPhones, it was like dropping a piece of buttered toast — there was a lucky and unlucky side on which it could land. With the iPhone 4, it’s like dropping a piece of toast that’s been buttered on both sides.

Perfect analogy.

And he makes a very good point about the new, more squared design of the iPhone making it more comfortable to hold as a camera. Though I haven’t held an iPhone 4 yet, I would venture a guess that he’s dead-on.

Good stuff, all in all a great review.

Merlin Mann – “WebVisions 2010 Keynote”

What a year.