Flicker Fusion

Independent’s day

Tomorrow is the last day for settling up with the government in these United States. And while a small group of blissfully ignorant fools will be making hay amongst the even more foolish who promote them, tax day is perhaps an apropos reminder to support independents.

This might be your local NPR affiliate, favorite non-chain corner coffee shop or writer on the other side of the country selling a book on Lulu. These are the ones who work because they love what they do.

As luck would have it, two of my favorite indies deserve some attention this week. The first is Birdhouse, the premier notepad for Twitter, launched this Monday to great fanfare, all of which is completely warranted. The other is John Gruber’s excellent Daring Fireball, purveyor of design critique, Mac ephemera and internet miscellany; his membership and t-shirt drive end tomorrow. Both are entirely reasonable and worthy of your support if you appreciate thoughtful, dedicated work.

April 15 may well deserve its maligned reputation but maybe it’s also an opportunity to consider supporting something not because you have to but because you want to.

Addendum: when I wrote this, I had no idea that my name appeared at the top of Daring Fireball. My endorsement of Mr. Gruber’s fine work remains exactly that, link love notwithstanding.

Therefore once the layers of humor are peeled away from this “tweet”, one sees at its heart a portrayal of a bland crypto-utopian future against which many American capitalist objectivists have (rightly or wrongly) struggled.

Therefore once the layers of humor are peeled away from this “tweet”, one sees at its heart a portrayal of a bland crypto-utopian future against which many American capitalist objectivists have (rightly or wrongly) struggled.

—Keith Starky explains Twitter may just be the best new Tumblr all week.

I saw it in a grocery store in Phoenix sometime in the summer of 1991, shortly after the release of the movie upon which the cereal is based. I cannot say why I bought this box, just as I cannot say why I bought and ate a second box at the same time. Apparently I thought it was funny. Did I think it was so funny that I kept the box through three out-of-state moves? I suppose I did. There can be no other explanation for its continued existence.

I saw it in a grocery store in Phoenix sometime in the summer of 1991, shortly after the release of the movie upon which the cereal is based. I cannot say why I bought this box, just as I cannot say why I bought and ate a second box at the same time. Apparently I thought it was funny. Did I think it was so funny that I kept the box through three out-of-state moves? I suppose I did. There can be no other explanation for its continued existence.

—Leonard Prince, answering the question why he owns a box of Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves tie-in breakfast cereal. The first second of a new AV Club column exploring the pop-culture ephemera that their writers collect.