App Shopper: Mind Performance Hacks (Books): "Mind Performance Hacks
By Ron Hale-Evans
Published by O'Reilly Media (http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596101534/)
You're smart. This book can make you smarter.
Mind Performance Hacks provides real-life tips and tools for overclocking your brain and becoming a better thinker. In the increasingly frenetic pace of today's information economy, managing your life requires hacking your brain. With this book, you'll cut through the clutter and tune up your brain intentionally, safely, and productively."
Wednesday, April 28
By any means necessary. | MetaFilter
By any means necessary. | MetaFilter: "How IS the tea party movement a thinly veiled white power movement?
Let me count the ways.
It's obviously a white power movement. Anyone at all familiar with the white power movement in the US can hear the dog whistles blowing like crazy. And sometimes, it's an air horn (the racist signs, for example). But the underlying logic of the teabagger right -- faithfully repeated by the press every time they're covered -- is that they are fighting to get 'their' country back, as if 'they' obviously held title to it by virtue of being white, above and beyond anything else (and the part that goes unspoken) but also of course 'Christian,' 'straight,' (yeah right) and with their own families' immigrant history safely at least 2 generations back. If you don't see the white power aspects of the tea party, you're trying not to. The furious denials that this is what it's about are the best evidence that this is precisely what it's about. The US is trending steadily toward a non-white majority future, already arrived in some places (hence the special vehemence of the white-power/tea party alliance in the Southwest)."
Let me count the ways.
It's obviously a white power movement. Anyone at all familiar with the white power movement in the US can hear the dog whistles blowing like crazy. And sometimes, it's an air horn (the racist signs, for example). But the underlying logic of the teabagger right -- faithfully repeated by the press every time they're covered -- is that they are fighting to get 'their' country back, as if 'they' obviously held title to it by virtue of being white, above and beyond anything else (and the part that goes unspoken) but also of course 'Christian,' 'straight,' (yeah right) and with their own families' immigrant history safely at least 2 generations back. If you don't see the white power aspects of the tea party, you're trying not to. The furious denials that this is what it's about are the best evidence that this is precisely what it's about. The US is trending steadily toward a non-white majority future, already arrived in some places (hence the special vehemence of the white-power/tea party alliance in the Southwest)."
Tuesday, April 27
Catalog Results - author=author 'nisbett'
Catalog Results - author=author 'nisbett': "BF431 .N57 2009
Intelligence and how to get it : why schools and cultures count 1st ed.
Nisbett, Richard E.
1 copy available at Orem Campus in
Regular Collection, 4th Floor"
Intelligence and how to get it : why schools and cultures count 1st ed.
Nisbett, Richard E.
1 copy available at Orem Campus in
Regular Collection, 4th Floor"
Cool Tools: The Optimistic Child
Cool Tools: The Optimistic Child: "Why should we bother? Isn't pessimism just a posture with no effects in the world? Unfortunately not. I have studied pessimism for the last twenty years, and in more than one thousand studies, involving more than half a million children and adults, pessimistic people do worse than optimistic people in three ways: First, they get depressed much more often. Second, they achieve less at school, on the job, and on the playing field than their talents augur. Third, their physical health is worse than that of optimists. So holding a pessimistic theory of the world may be the mark of sophistication, but it is a costly one."
Monday, April 26
How Steve Jobs Got Sick, Got Better, And Decided To Save Some Lives � Forbes.com's Velocity
How Steve Jobs Got Sick, Got Better, And Decided To Save Some Lives � Forbes.com's Velocity: "in a departure from a largely apolitical career, Steve decided to do something about it.
At a dinner in December -- no one will tell us where this dinner was -- Steve sat next to Maria Shriver, John F. Kennedy's niece and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's wife. Steve told her the whole story of his liver transplant. He complained that California doesn't do enough to encourage people to become organ donors. He told Maria that she should get her husband to do something about it -- that California should require people who want drivers' licenses to say whether or not they want to be organ donors (previously, they'd only had the option of saying they wanted to be donors).
The First Lady talked to her husband. Then the Governor called Steve. The Governor called State Senator Alquist, who he knew to be a long time advocate for organ donation. Suddenly, a cause that couldn't find its way into a bill for two or more years was set to become State Senate Bill 1395. All thanks to Steve Jobs -- and his now-departed liver."
At a dinner in December -- no one will tell us where this dinner was -- Steve sat next to Maria Shriver, John F. Kennedy's niece and California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's wife. Steve told her the whole story of his liver transplant. He complained that California doesn't do enough to encourage people to become organ donors. He told Maria that she should get her husband to do something about it -- that California should require people who want drivers' licenses to say whether or not they want to be organ donors (previously, they'd only had the option of saying they wanted to be donors).
The First Lady talked to her husband. Then the Governor called Steve. The Governor called State Senator Alquist, who he knew to be a long time advocate for organ donation. Suddenly, a cause that couldn't find its way into a bill for two or more years was set to become State Senate Bill 1395. All thanks to Steve Jobs -- and his now-departed liver."
Paradox in the Business Writing Classroom
Paradox in the Business Writing Classroom: "Nevertheless, while behavioral grading allows students to discover the best ways to write in the business world, it cannot provide a pedagogical panacea. The business writing instructor is faced with a Catch-22: placing students in a business writing environment does not foster the best learning environment, yet allowing them to work outside a deadline-oriented system misrepresents the business environment. Even though it focuses on learning to write, on the developing writing process, behavioral grading should provide students with a reasonable understanding of the environmental situations they will face in the business world and of how their efforts in a business writing class will transfer to that business world. The system’s largest discrepancy is its violation of the business world’s deadlines—a fact that they should be aware of in their learning rather than be surprised with when they actually enter the business world."
Paradox in the Business Writing Classroom
Paradox in the Business Writing Classroom: "Paradox in the Business Writing Classroom:
Teaching Nonacademic Writing in the Academic Setting
by Traci Gardner
Project Paper. Southwestern Virginia Writing Project. July 1987.
Writing teachers face a curious paradox in the business writing classroom: they must teach students theories of effective communication in an academic setting, yet they must also teach students how to apply those theories practically in a nonacademic setting. This paradoxical situation is compounded by most instructors’ superficial knowledge of the demands of writing in the business world. To give students general strategies which they can apply in practical situations, business writing instructors need a fuller awareness of how constraints and restrictions in a nonacademic setting shape and influence writing practices. Business writing instructors can, then, reconcile theory and practice by structuring a teaching model which adequately and realistically prepares students for writing in the business world."
Teaching Nonacademic Writing in the Academic Setting
by Traci Gardner
Project Paper. Southwestern Virginia Writing Project. July 1987.
Writing teachers face a curious paradox in the business writing classroom: they must teach students theories of effective communication in an academic setting, yet they must also teach students how to apply those theories practically in a nonacademic setting. This paradoxical situation is compounded by most instructors’ superficial knowledge of the demands of writing in the business world. To give students general strategies which they can apply in practical situations, business writing instructors need a fuller awareness of how constraints and restrictions in a nonacademic setting shape and influence writing practices. Business writing instructors can, then, reconcile theory and practice by structuring a teaching model which adequately and realistically prepares students for writing in the business world."
Sunday, April 25
Practical Vision: We are Losing America Right Before Our Blind Eyes (Updated 4/21/10)
Practical Vision: We are Losing America Right Before Our Blind Eyes (Updated 4/21/10): "Corporate Welfare in the United States
% of Foreign-owned Corporations doing Business in the US Paying ZERO US Taxes:
72 Percent
% of US Corporations paying ZERO US Taxes
67 Percent
Effective Tax Rate paid by all Publicly Traded Corporations
12 Percent
Effective Tax Rate Paid by Largest Multinationals
25 Percent
US taxes paid by Exxon-Mobile paid on $37.3 Billion profit in 2009
ZERO
US taxes paid by General Electric on $10.3 Billion Profit in 2009
ZERO
�
US taxes Paid by Bailout Recipient Bank of America on $4.4 Billion Profit in 2009
ZERO
US Taxes Paid by Chevron on $18.5 Billion Profit in 2009
200 million
(1.1% Tax Rate)
US Taxes Paid by Verizon on $11.6 Billion Profit in 2009
1.1 Billion
(10% Tax Rate)"
% of Foreign-owned Corporations doing Business in the US Paying ZERO US Taxes:
72 Percent
% of US Corporations paying ZERO US Taxes
67 Percent
Effective Tax Rate paid by all Publicly Traded Corporations
12 Percent
Effective Tax Rate Paid by Largest Multinationals
25 Percent
US taxes paid by Exxon-Mobile paid on $37.3 Billion profit in 2009
ZERO
US taxes paid by General Electric on $10.3 Billion Profit in 2009
ZERO
�
US taxes Paid by Bailout Recipient Bank of America on $4.4 Billion Profit in 2009
ZERO
US Taxes Paid by Chevron on $18.5 Billion Profit in 2009
200 million
(1.1% Tax Rate)
US Taxes Paid by Verizon on $11.6 Billion Profit in 2009
1.1 Billion
(10% Tax Rate)"
L’avventura �l’avventura � Interaction is better than plastic explosive
L’avventura �l’avventura � Interaction is better than plastic explosive: "And which classic game is the best one and why?
I admired Spellbreaker very highly: it was mind-blowing to me how clever it was, and how elegant, ingenious and full of unfolding possibility. I felt when I was playing it that the author had realized the fantastic potential of IF to portray things that could only exist in the imagination. Like the zipper– well, I'll say no more.
On the other hand, I've never played a lot of the games that top other people's best-of lists, like Trinity or A Mind Forever Voyaging. And it's difficult to say, 'this was the absolute best,' because different works try to accomplish different things, and two games can be more or less spot-on in their respective categories without really overlapping at all."
I admired Spellbreaker very highly: it was mind-blowing to me how clever it was, and how elegant, ingenious and full of unfolding possibility. I felt when I was playing it that the author had realized the fantastic potential of IF to portray things that could only exist in the imagination. Like the zipper– well, I'll say no more.
On the other hand, I've never played a lot of the games that top other people's best-of lists, like Trinity or A Mind Forever Voyaging. And it's difficult to say, 'this was the absolute best,' because different works try to accomplish different things, and two games can be more or less spot-on in their respective categories without really overlapping at all."
Launch of secret US space ship masks even more secret launch of new weapon - Times Online
Launch of secret US space ship masks even more secret launch of new weapon - Times Online: "With all the focus on the launch of the secret X37B, another space launch by a Minotaur IV rocket from Vandenberg Air Force base in California received less attention.
It was carrying the prototype of a new weapon that can hit any target around the world in less than an hour.
The Prompt Global Strike is designed as the conventional weapon of the future. It could hit Osama bin Laden’s cave, an Iranian nuclear site or a North Korean missile with a huge conventional warhead."
It was carrying the prototype of a new weapon that can hit any target around the world in less than an hour.
The Prompt Global Strike is designed as the conventional weapon of the future. It could hit Osama bin Laden’s cave, an Iranian nuclear site or a North Korean missile with a huge conventional warhead."
Ephphatha Poetry: "Imagine if the Tea Party Was Black" - Tim Wise
Ephphatha Poetry: "Imagine if the Tea Party Was Black" - Tim Wise: "And this, my friends, is what white privilege is all about. The ability to threaten others, to engage in violent and incendiary rhetoric without consequence, to be viewed as patriotic and normal no matter what you do, and never to be feared and despised as people of color would be, if they tried to get away with half the *** we do, on a daily basis.
Game Over."
Game Over."
Ephphatha Poetry: "Imagine if the Tea Party Was Black" - Tim Wise
Ephphatha Poetry: "Imagine if the Tea Party Was Black" - Tim Wise: "Imagine that hundreds of black protesters were to descend upon Washington DC and Northern Virginia, just a few miles from the Capitol and White House, armed with AK-47s, assorted handguns, and ammunition. And imagine that some of these protesters —the black protesters — spoke of the need for political revolution, and possibly even armed conflict in the event that laws they didn’t like were enforced by the government? Would these protester — these black protesters with guns — be seen as brave defenders of the Second Amendment, or would they be viewed by most whites as a danger to the republic?"
Friday, April 23
Losing is Fun: An Interview With Dwarf Fortress Developer Tarn Adams - Negative Gamer
Losing is Fun: An Interview With Dwarf Fortress Developer Tarn Adams - Negative Gamer: "I’d venture to say Dwarf Fortress is the most rich, complex game I’ve ever played. The game uses a modified ASCII character set for graphics, and yet it works my computer harder than Bad Company 2. The game’s main objective is simply to survive, and yet there are pages upon pages of documentation for the best methods of doing so. Dwarf Fortress was released in 2006, and has become a huge hit among PC gamers. Even if you’ve never played Dwarf Fortress before, you may have heard of the famous “Boatmurdered” game, where several players took turns playing the same fortress (I recommend you read their stories, it’s absolutely hilarious)."
Refined, polished, punishing: Ars plays Halo: Reach multi
Refined, polished, punishing: Ars plays Halo: Reach multi: "here is also a credit system, where you gain virtual currency by playing the game. You use these credits to buy different options for your armor, and your aesthetic choices will be shown in both the single and multiplayer modes. You gain credits by playing the game, and by clearing challenges that will be constantly added to the game. Daily challenges may be easy to accomplish, but the weekly challenges will require a heavier time commitment. Commendations will also be awarded based on your behavior, with seven different Commendations included in the beta. All these things simply serve as your way to gain credits, and the credits are only spent on prestige items to change how you look to other players."
The keyboardless Office: a review of iWork for iPad
The keyboardless Office: a review of iWork for iPad: "The whole 'file sharing' process is obviously just another step towards iTunes replacing the Finder. Why can’t I do this over Bluetooth or WiFi? Why doesn’t the iPad just mount on the desktop like a drive? In Apple’s attempt to make this as simple as possible for everyone, they have made it excruciating for those who know what they are doing, and inexplicably difficult for those who have no clue."
When The 'Trust Hormone' Is Out Of Balance : NPR
When The 'Trust Hormone' Is Out Of Balance : NPR: "in 2001, Zak began spraying oxytocin up the noses of college students to see if the hormone would change the way they interacted with strangers.
It did. Squirt oxytocin up the nose of a college kid, and he's 80 percent more likely to distribute his own money to perfect strangers.
This gave Zak an idea. Like some comic-book villain concocting a plan to take over the world by dumping happy pills in the water supply, he wondered if it might be possible to use this molecule -- oxytocin -- to change the way people felt about the government."
It did. Squirt oxytocin up the nose of a college kid, and he's 80 percent more likely to distribute his own money to perfect strangers.
This gave Zak an idea. Like some comic-book villain concocting a plan to take over the world by dumping happy pills in the water supply, he wondered if it might be possible to use this molecule -- oxytocin -- to change the way people felt about the government."
Thursday, April 22
YouTube Bibliography | Watching YouTube
YouTube Bibliography | Watching YouTube: "YouTube Bibliography"
"There Was Never Any Pay-day For the Negroes": Jourdon Anderson Demands Wages
"There Was Never Any Pay-day For the Negroes": Jourdon Anderson Demands Wages: "P.S. —Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him for taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me."
"There Was Never Any Pay-day For the Negroes": Jourdon Anderson Demands Wages
"There Was Never Any Pay-day For the Negroes": Jourdon Anderson Demands Wages: "Mandy says she would be afraid to go back without some proof that you are sincerely disposed to treat us justly and kindly; and we have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will make us forget and forgive old scores, and rely on your justice and friendship in the future. I served you faithfully for thirty-two years and Mandy twenty years. At twenty-five dollars a month for me, and two dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to eleven thousand six hundred and eighty dollars."
Wednesday, April 21
As Lost Ends, Creators Explain How They Did It, What’s Going On | Magazine�| Wired.com
As Lost Ends, Creators Explain How They Did It, What’s Going On | Magazine�| Wired.com: "Cuse: I don’t think there’s a right answer.
Lindelof: But the show can’t have its cake and eat it, too. At the end of the day, if Jack and Locke were to sit down and say, “Well, we were kind of both right,” that would not be satisfying.
Cuse: There’s still going to be plenty of room for debate when the show is over. We are going to take a stab at providing a conclusion, one that we hope will be satisfying. The bigger questions, we recognize, are not answerable."
Lindelof: But the show can’t have its cake and eat it, too. At the end of the day, if Jack and Locke were to sit down and say, “Well, we were kind of both right,” that would not be satisfying.
Cuse: There’s still going to be plenty of room for debate when the show is over. We are going to take a stab at providing a conclusion, one that we hope will be satisfying. The bigger questions, we recognize, are not answerable."
Zeo Review and First Impressions | MikeBoylan.com
Zeo Review and First Impressions | MikeBoylan.com: "SmartWake
My absolute favorite feature of the Zeo is called SmartWake. �If you turn it on, it finds a natural waking point for your body and rings the alarm then. �This avoids what is called Sleep Inertia which happens from waking from deep sleep. �Many people with traditional alarms are actually woken during this period which is what causes grogginess in the morning which can last all day. �With SmartWake, you set an alarm time and an alarm window. �For example, if I set my alarm for 7:05 with an alarm window of 20 minutes, if at any time between 6:45 and 7:05, the Zeo detects a REM to NREM transition, it will ring the alarm, thus waking me at a natural waking point. �"
My absolute favorite feature of the Zeo is called SmartWake. �If you turn it on, it finds a natural waking point for your body and rings the alarm then. �This avoids what is called Sleep Inertia which happens from waking from deep sleep. �Many people with traditional alarms are actually woken during this period which is what causes grogginess in the morning which can last all day. �With SmartWake, you set an alarm time and an alarm window. �For example, if I set my alarm for 7:05 with an alarm window of 20 minutes, if at any time between 6:45 and 7:05, the Zeo detects a REM to NREM transition, it will ring the alarm, thus waking me at a natural waking point. �"
Facebook Says Credits Won’t Pay Off Soon, Adds ’Like’ Feature - BusinessWeek
Facebook Says Credits Won’t Pay Off Soon, Adds ’Like’ Feature - BusinessWeek: "Virtual Goods
With Credits, Facebook is wading into the deepening virtual-goods market, which will almost double to $1.6 billion this year and could reach $3.6 billion in three years, according to Atul Bagga, a ThinkEquity LLC analyst in San Francisco. The market has attracted startups such as Kwedit Inc., which have their own payment approaches.
The Like program builds on an existing Facebook feature, which lets people click “like” when a friend posts a status update, photo or Web link. The Like option will begin appearing on outside Web sites, including those for the New York Times, Internet Movie Database and Walt Disney Co.’s ABC, Facebook said.
When users click “like” on those pages, their friends on Facebook will get an update. The friends can then comment on the information. For example, a Facebook user could see which friends like the jeans on Levis.com, Austin Haugen, a Facebook product manager, said in a blog posting.
Like relies on an approach called “open graph,” which lets companies more easily tap information from Facebook users on their sites. Microsoft Corp., the world’s biggest software maker, is using the features to tie into a new Web-based Office program called Docs.com."
With Credits, Facebook is wading into the deepening virtual-goods market, which will almost double to $1.6 billion this year and could reach $3.6 billion in three years, according to Atul Bagga, a ThinkEquity LLC analyst in San Francisco. The market has attracted startups such as Kwedit Inc., which have their own payment approaches.
The Like program builds on an existing Facebook feature, which lets people click “like” when a friend posts a status update, photo or Web link. The Like option will begin appearing on outside Web sites, including those for the New York Times, Internet Movie Database and Walt Disney Co.’s ABC, Facebook said.
When users click “like” on those pages, their friends on Facebook will get an update. The friends can then comment on the information. For example, a Facebook user could see which friends like the jeans on Levis.com, Austin Haugen, a Facebook product manager, said in a blog posting.
Like relies on an approach called “open graph,” which lets companies more easily tap information from Facebook users on their sites. Microsoft Corp., the world’s biggest software maker, is using the features to tie into a new Web-based Office program called Docs.com."
Tuesday, April 20
Gmail - Writing sites that draw upon videogame-style motivational "tricks." - craniac@gmail.com
I'm looking for examples of websites that encourage writing using methods derived from video games. One that comes to mind is http://750words.com/ which gives you a score for the number of words you write each day, bestows achievements, shows the high scores for the day and also sends out email reminders to "play" each day. It's a very nice place to write early drafts.
Another less obvious site might be something like http://boardgamegeek.com which gives users who donate help files bits of in-game currency. Message posters can receive multiple "thumbs up" designations which can be converted into award badges that attach to the users avatar.
I also recently saw a TED-related presentation that mentioned an instructor who converted his course grading into a levelling-up system (here are the quests you have to accomplish to become a grand master, etc).
Is anyone trying this in their writing classrooms?
Another less obvious site might be something like http://boardgamegeek.com which gives users who donate help files bits of in-game currency. Message posters can receive multiple "thumbs up" designations which can be converted into award badges that attach to the users avatar.
I also recently saw a TED-related presentation that mentioned an instructor who converted his course grading into a levelling-up system (here are the quests you have to accomplish to become a grand master, etc).
Is anyone trying this in their writing classrooms?
Monday, April 19
Bob Breedlove: Life of a RAAM Legend | Outside Online
Bob Breedlove: Life of a RAAM Legend | Outside Online: "At one of the final control points, Bob stopped a Swedish woman rider who was in the process of turning in her number, abandoning the race.
"What are you doing?" he asked with that big smile of his.
"I'm finished with PBP," she announced, sounding angry and relieved.
Bob nodded. "Sure. Hey, what's your favorite 100-kilometer training ride back home? An easy one."
This exhausted woman stared at Bob as if he were mad, but then he gave her that grin and she described a beautiful ride of rolling hills near her home.
"Fine," Bob nodded. "So that's the ride you're going to do today. Forget about PBP. All you do is get on your bike and ride that ride in your head. You can handle that ride any day, right?"
She stared and then started to smile, if only a little. "That's all you have to do today," Bob said gently. "Just ride that little 100k ride you love. Easy as pie."
Later that day, back at the finish outside of Paris, I saw her hug Bob and burst into tears. "
"What are you doing?" he asked with that big smile of his.
"I'm finished with PBP," she announced, sounding angry and relieved.
Bob nodded. "Sure. Hey, what's your favorite 100-kilometer training ride back home? An easy one."
This exhausted woman stared at Bob as if he were mad, but then he gave her that grin and she described a beautiful ride of rolling hills near her home.
"Fine," Bob nodded. "So that's the ride you're going to do today. Forget about PBP. All you do is get on your bike and ride that ride in your head. You can handle that ride any day, right?"
She stared and then started to smile, if only a little. "That's all you have to do today," Bob said gently. "Just ride that little 100k ride you love. Easy as pie."
Later that day, back at the finish outside of Paris, I saw her hug Bob and burst into tears. "
What we (and Activision) learned from Modern Warfare 2
What we (and Activision) learned from Modern Warfare 2: "When it comes to Tony Hawk: Ride, Activision just took things to their natural conclusion, held a three-hour event where the press could review the game, and refused to ship it to anyone. We've heard that for its next blockbuster title Activision is planning to simply visit game reviewers at work, punch them in the kidneys, and then write the review for them."
The New Science of Exercise | MetaFilter
The New Science of Exercise | MetaFilter: "'You're fat. The messages of mindful relationship with food and healthy lifestyle should have been taught just didn't hit home, but frankly nobody around here can bothered to address systemic issues in modern Western culture and diet. You're therefore so utterly broken that only a coordinated team of medical professionals, trainers, and coaches, combining decades of training, with you restrained to a controlled environment, can hope to fix your body, mind and soul enough to rejoin society. And, when you fall off the wagon again due to all those systemic issues we're ignoring, we, the medico-industrial complex, will be here.'"
Sunday, April 18
Grand Junction: A Bold Idea Hampered by Its Execution - Books - io9
Grand Junction: A Bold Idea Hampered by Its Execution - Books - io9: "The worst part of all this is that, if one manages to persevere in the face of his epic verbosity, one finds that Grand Junction's core is a gooey center of French Deconstructionalist philosophy somehow merged with 13th century Catholic theology."
BBC News - Behavioural rewards 'work like drugs' for ADHD
BBC News - Behavioural rewards 'work like drugs' for ADHD: "A Nottingham University team measured brain activity as children played a computer game, offering extra points for less impulsive behaviour.
Their findings, published in Biological Psychiatry, could mean lower doses of drugs such as Ritalin in severe cases.
But they warn teachers and parents may often struggle to give instant rewards."
Their findings, published in Biological Psychiatry, could mean lower doses of drugs such as Ritalin in severe cases.
But they warn teachers and parents may often struggle to give instant rewards."
Abroad - Do-It-Yourself Culture Thrives Despite Globalism - NYTimes.com
Abroad - Do-It-Yourself Culture Thrives Despite Globalism - NYTimes.com: "Generally speaking, culture operates within the mainstreams of power. The myth of an avant-garde serves the same market forces avant-gardism pretends to overthrow. Art may challenge authority; and popular culture (this includes clownish demagogues like Glenn Beck) sometimes makes trouble for those in charge, the way Thomas Nast’s cartoons did for Boss Tweed in Tammany Hall. But art doesn’t actually overthrow anything except itself, and never has, not in 19th-century France or 20th-century Russia or 21st-century China or Iran."
Abroad - Do-It-Yourself Culture Thrives Despite Globalism - NYTimes.com
Abroad - Do-It-Yourself Culture Thrives Despite Globalism - NYTimes.com: "What’s new is the power available to wide swaths of the populace, thanks above all to cheap travel and the Web, to become actors in the production and dissemination of culture, not simply consumers. A generation or more ago, aside from what people did in their home or from what’s roughly called folk or outsider art, culture was generally thought of as something handed down from on high, which the public received."
Saturday, April 17
Daryl Gates' real legacy - LA Observed - Visiting bloggers
Daryl Gates' real legacy - LA Observed - Visiting bloggers: "(Spock, the Star Trek character, was modeled on Parker, Bill Overend reported in the L.A. Times View section 25 years ago. Gene Roddenberry, who created Star Trek was co-author of 'Parker on Police,' a classic law enforcement manual, and like Gates was a Parker driver.)"
Daryl Gates' real legacy - LA Observed - Visiting bloggers
Daryl Gates' real legacy - LA Observed - Visiting bloggers: "At a meeting in South Central that has been used by TV and many screenwriters, a gathering of blacks upset about LAPD violence erupted into demands from one person after another in the audience to attack LAPD officers and division buildings. The leaders at the actual meetings told these people to shut up. Year later court documents showed that the calls for violence all came from undercover LAPD officers, one of whom stole hundreds of dollars from the organization he infiltrated and served as treasurer."
Abroad - Do-It-Yourself Culture Thrives Despite Globalism - NYTimes.com
So maybe the world really isn't flat after all.
Abroad - Do-It-Yourself Culture Thrives Despite Globalism - NYTimes.com: "The common denominator of popular culture — which these days encompasses so many things that you could even include all sorts of high culture — seems to have just intensified the need people now feel to distinguish themselves from it. And global technology has made this easier by providing countless individuals, microcultures and larger groups and movements with cheap and convenient means to preserve and disseminate themselves."
Abroad - Do-It-Yourself Culture Thrives Despite Globalism - NYTimes.com: "The common denominator of popular culture — which these days encompasses so many things that you could even include all sorts of high culture — seems to have just intensified the need people now feel to distinguish themselves from it. And global technology has made this easier by providing countless individuals, microcultures and larger groups and movements with cheap and convenient means to preserve and disseminate themselves."
Removing gasoline from soil and groundwater through air sparging. Michael C. Marley. 2006; Remediation Journal - Wiley InterScience
Removing gasoline from soil and groundwater through air sparging. Michael C. Marley. 2006; Remediation Journal - Wiley InterScience: "Although a soil vapor extraction system (SVES) had effectively remediated the vadose zone soils at a gasoline spill site in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, gasoline remained in the soils below the water table. The state Department of Environmental Management (DEM) closure criteria of 10,000 parts per billion (ppb) were still not met after five years. This article describes how an air sparging system was added to the effort for $57,000, and how after three weeks, closure criteria were achieved."
Spicy-Sour Pork Ramen | Noodle Fever
Spicy-Sour Pork Ramen | Noodle Fever: "Pork Broth
2 pounds of meaty pork bones
Water to cover
3 green onions (washed)
3 slices of ginger
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 or 2 star anises
� cup Chinese rice wine (Michiu)
Salt to taste"
2 pounds of meaty pork bones
Water to cover
3 green onions (washed)
3 slices of ginger
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 or 2 star anises
� cup Chinese rice wine (Michiu)
Salt to taste"
Momofuku Ramen | Noodle Fever
Momofuku Ramen | Noodle Fever: "I stand by my comment that Momofuku is the single most entertaining cookbook I've ever read, but the recipes are not really rocking my world so far. In fact, the ramen broth, despite the fact that it took a whole freaking day to make, was strangely less palatable to me than my super-simple pork broth. Something about the kombu and shitakes added a weird funky aftertaste that muddied the broth instead of adding depth."
Friday, April 16
Where Home Is Really About Getting Away From It All - NYTimes.com
Where Home Is Really About Getting Away From It All - NYTimes.com: "Every aspect of his daily routine was essential to his survival. “I have to collect firewood, rather than do some job that I have no idea what is the point, which I hate, and from which I am completely alienated,” he said. “Everything in my life feels full of meaning.”"
Where Home Is Really About Getting Away From It All - NYTimes.com
Where Home Is Really About Getting Away From It All - NYTimes.com: "Still, island life took its toll. “I got attacked by loneliness,” said Mr. Lextrait, who came to depend on the company of his German shepherd mix, TouTou. He would often forgo shaving and dressing, he said, and “I started talking to myself. Sometimes I felt like an animal.”"
Addicted to Fat: Overeating May Alter the Brain as Much as Hard Drugs: Scientific American
Addicted to Fat: Overeating May Alter the Brain as Much as Hard Drugs: Scientific American: "Like many pleasurable behaviors—including sex and drug use—eating can trigger the release of dopamine, a feel-good neurotransmitter in the brain. This internal chemical reward, in turn, increases the likelihood that the associated action will eventually become habitual through positive reinforcement conditioning. If activated by overeating, these neurochemical patterns can make the behavior tough to shake—a result seen in many human cases"
Most Men Are Too Intimidated To Date A Successful, Educated Gorgon | The Onion - America's Finest News Source
Most Men Are Too Intimidated To Date A Successful, Educated Gorgon | The Onion - America's Finest News Source: "When I look in the mirror, I like what I see: full lips, bright red eyes, a lustrous tangle of live asps on my head. My sister Stheno says I 'verily personify the terrors of the sea' and would be a 'real catch' for any man with half a brain. I don't know, maybe she's right. Still, every time the real me emerges—the confident, cultured, cruel monster with hideous boar-like teeth who knows what she wants and isn't afraid to get it—everything starts to go downhill.
Well, sorry, guys. If you're looking for someone to sit there, shut up, and look pretty, all the while making sure to keep her beastly set of wings politely folded, you must have me confused with someone else."
Well, sorry, guys. If you're looking for someone to sit there, shut up, and look pretty, all the while making sure to keep her beastly set of wings politely folded, you must have me confused with someone else."
Bad PR Forces Apple to Reconsider Banning Prize-Winning Satirist | Epicenter | Wired.com
Bad PR Forces Apple to Reconsider Banning Prize-Winning Satirist | Epicenter | Wired.com: "Bending to bad publicity, Apple has asked Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist Mark Fiore to resubmit the iPhone app it rejected four months ago because the app satirized public figures in violation of its policies. Fiore did just that Friday morning, even though he says he feels a bit odd about it."
S.E.C. Sues Goldman Over Housing Market Deal - NYTimes.com
S.E.C. Sues Goldman Over Housing Market Deal - NYTimes.com: "he instrument in the S.E.C. case, called Abacus 2007-AC1, was one of 25 deals that Goldman created so the bank and select clients could bet against the housing market. Those deals, which were the subject of an article in The New York Times in December, initially protected Goldman from losses when the mortgage market disintegrated and later yielded profits for the bank."
Ramen noodles as soul-satisfying food - chicagotribune.com
Ramen noodles as soul-satisfying food - chicagotribune.com: "'A bowl of ramen is a self-contained universe with life from the sea, the mountain and the earth, all existing in perfect harmony. What holds it all together is the broth. The broth gives life to the ramen.'"
Thursday, April 15
The Collapse of Complex Business Models � Clay Shirky
The Collapse of Complex Business Models Clay Shirky: "“Web users will have to pay for what they watch and use, or else we will have to stop making content in the costly and complex way we have grown accustomed to making it. And we don’t know how to do that.”"
The Collapse of Complex Business Models � Clay Shirky
The Collapse of Complex Business Models � Clay Shirky: "When the value of complexity turns negative, a society plagued by an inability to react remains as complex as ever, right up to the moment where it becomes suddenly and dramatically simpler, which is to say right up to the moment of collapse. Collapse is simply the last remaining method of simplification."
Wednesday, April 14
Hack 17. Build an Exoself
Hack 17. Build an Exoself: "Hack 17. Build an Exoself
Take a Hipster PDA, combine it with a pocket countdown timer called the MotivAider, and gain better control of your thoughts, emotions, and activities.
Science fiction writer Greg Egan explores the concept of the exoself in some of his novels. In Permutation City, he defines it as 'sophisticated, but nonconscious, supervisory software which could reach into...brain and body and fine-tune any part of it as required.'1 In a later novel, Diaspora, he describes the exoself's outlook component: 'software that could run inside your exoself and reinforce the qualities that you valued most, if and when you felt the need for such an anchor.'2"
Take a Hipster PDA, combine it with a pocket countdown timer called the MotivAider, and gain better control of your thoughts, emotions, and activities.
Science fiction writer Greg Egan explores the concept of the exoself in some of his novels. In Permutation City, he defines it as 'sophisticated, but nonconscious, supervisory software which could reach into...brain and body and fine-tune any part of it as required.'1 In a later novel, Diaspora, he describes the exoself's outlook component: 'software that could run inside your exoself and reinforce the qualities that you valued most, if and when you felt the need for such an anchor.'2"
Introduction
Introduction: "You'll see what you care about, quite clearly. You'll be familiar with your mental terrain. Incredible clarity. Addictive clarity. Vast clarity. Extraordinary clarity.
You will Love it, if you are anything like me. It will feel natural and free; There will be a freedom within your mind. You'll create astonishing things, and you'll find great tools that will help you in your life after you are immobilized.
Or at least, it will seem that way."
You will Love it, if you are anything like me. It will feel natural and free; There will be a freedom within your mind. You'll create astonishing things, and you'll find great tools that will help you in your life after you are immobilized.
Or at least, it will seem that way."
How to Make a Complete Map of Every Thought you Think
How to Make a Complete Map of Every Thought you Think: "How to Make a Complete Map of Every Thought you Think
That's the title of a book I wrote. Guess what it's about!
It's about how to make a complete map of every thought you think! But it has some other things in there; It talks about visual language, maps, computerized notebooks, theory of notebooks, yadda yadda yadda.
I'm afraid it's not really written well, but if you are interested in the topic of intelligence augmentation and notebooks, I think you'll overlook it's obvious flaws, for an enjoyable experience."
That's the title of a book I wrote. Guess what it's about!
It's about how to make a complete map of every thought you think! But it has some other things in there; It talks about visual language, maps, computerized notebooks, theory of notebooks, yadda yadda yadda.
I'm afraid it's not really written well, but if you are interested in the topic of intelligence augmentation and notebooks, I think you'll overlook it's obvious flaws, for an enjoyable experience."
Oliver Burkeman: Grey matter | Life and style | The Guardian
Oliver Burkeman: Grey matter | Life and style | The Guardian: "'There's a basic flaw in the way the human mind is designed,' argues Levinson, a clinical psychologist based in Minnesota. 'People get very excited about making improvements. They say, 'I've learned something that's going to change my life! All I need to do is A, B and C!' Then, two weeks later, they're not doing anything.'"
Monday, April 12
ROROTOKO :: Mark Fenster on the updated edition of his book Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American Culture :: Cutting-edge Intellectual Nonfiction through In-depth Author Interviews
ROROTOKO :: Mark Fenster on the updated edition of his book Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American Culture :: Cutting-edge Intellectual Nonfiction through In-depth Author Interviews: "Viewed this way, a conspiracy theory is symptomatic of a larger sickness from which the believers suffer, caused in part by their marginal position within society. Conspiracy theories are more complex than this simple story tells—historically, politically, and culturally. They have played a key or at least non-trivial role in many of the social movements throughout American history, from the beginnings of the Republic to the present day. Moreover, conspiracy theories remain remarkably popular. In the political world, politicians and partisans disparage their opponents’ beliefs as conspiracy theory while they maintain that those same opponents are engaged in conspiratorial acts."
The story BCG offered me $16,000 not to tell - The Tech
The story BCG offered me $16,000 not to tell - The Tech: "got the feeling that our clients were simply trying to mimic successful businesses, and that as consultants, our earnings came from having the luck of being included in an elaborate cargo-cult ritual. In any case it fell to us to decide for ourselves what question we had been hired to answer, and as a matter of convenience, we elected to answer questions that we had already answered in the course of previous cases — no sense in doing new work when old work will do. The toolkit I brought with me from MIT was absolute overkill in this environment. Most of my day was spent thinking up and writing PowerPoint slides. Sometimes, I didn’t even need to write them — we had a service in India that could put together pretty good copy if you provided them with a sketch and some instructions."
William Gibson
William Gibson: "Q Do you visualize some locations from first-hand experience or do you take notes to refresh your memory while re/experiencing them again?
A I have no way of knowing what'll reemerge from the hopper as a novel-unit, so no reason to take notes. Everything goes into the hopper. Relatively few things come out of it." --William Gibson
A I have no way of knowing what'll reemerge from the hopper as a novel-unit, so no reason to take notes. Everything goes into the hopper. Relatively few things come out of it." --William Gibson
NSFW: I Admit It, The iPad Is A Kindle Killer. I Just Wish It Weren’t Going To Kill Reading Too
NSFW: I Admit It, The iPad Is A Kindle Killer. I Just Wish It Weren’t Going To Kill Reading Too: "The iPad is emphatically not a serious readers’ device: the only people who would genuinely consider it a Kindle killer are those for whom the idea of reading for pleasure died years ago; if it was ever alive."
Mystical-type experiences occasioned by psilocybin mediate the attribution of personal meaning and spiritual significance 14 months later -- Griffiths et al., 10.1177/0269881108094300 -- Journal of Psychopharmacology
Mystical-type experiences occasioned by psilocybin mediate the attribution of personal meaning and spiritual significance 14 months later -- Griffiths et al., 10.1177/0269881108094300 -- Journal of Psychopharmacology: "Mystical-type experiences occasioned by psilocybin mediate the attribution of personal meaning and spiritual significance 14 months later"
Hallucinogens Have Doctors Tuning In Again - NYTimes.com
Hallucinogens Have Doctors Tuning In Again - NYTimes.com: "In one of Dr. Griffiths’s first studies, involving 36 people with no serious physical or emotional problems, he and colleagues found that psilocybin could induce what the experimental subjects described as a profound spiritual experience with lasting positive effects for most of them. None had had any previous experience with hallucinogens, and none were even sure what drug was being administered."
Hallucinogens Have Doctors Tuning In Again - NYTimes.com
Hallucinogens Have Doctors Tuning In Again - NYTimes.com: "Today, more than a year later, Dr. Martin credits that six-hour experience with helping him overcome his depression and profoundly transforming his relationships with his daughter and friends. He ranks it among the most meaningful events of his life, which makes him a fairly typical member of a growing club of experimental subjects."
Saturday, April 10
Ill Fares the Land - The New York Review of Books
Ill Fares the Land - The New York Review of Books: "A liberal is someone who opposes interference in the affairs of others: who is tolerant of dissenting attitudes and unconventional behavior. Liberals have historically favored keeping other people out of our lives, leaving individuals the maximum space in which to live and flourish as they choose. In their extreme form, such attitudes are associated today with self-styled 'libertarians,' but the term is largely redundant. Most genuine liberals remain disposed to leave other people alone.
Social democrats, on the other hand, are something of a hybrid. They share with liberals a commitment to cultural and religious tolerance. But in public policy social democrats believe in the possibility and virtue of collective action for the collective good. Like most liberals, social democrats favor progressive taxation in order to pay for public services and other social goods that individuals cannot provide themselves; but whereas many liberals might see such taxation or public provision as a necessary evil, a social democratic vision of the good society entails from the outset a greater role for the state and the public sector."
Social democrats, on the other hand, are something of a hybrid. They share with liberals a commitment to cultural and religious tolerance. But in public policy social democrats believe in the possibility and virtue of collective action for the collective good. Like most liberals, social democrats favor progressive taxation in order to pay for public services and other social goods that individuals cannot provide themselves; but whereas many liberals might see such taxation or public provision as a necessary evil, a social democratic vision of the good society entails from the outset a greater role for the state and the public sector."
Ill Fares the Land - The New York Review of Books
Ill Fares the Land - The New York Review of Books: "Something is profoundly wrong with the way we live today. For thirty years we have made a virtue out of the pursuit of material self-interest: indeed, this very pursuit now constitutes whatever remains of our sense of collective purpose. We know what things cost but have no idea what they are worth. We no longer ask of a judicial ruling or a legislative act: Is it good? Is it fair? Is it just? Is it right? Will it help bring about a better society or a better world? Those used to be the political questions, even if they invited no easy answers. We must learn once again to pose them."
Friday, April 9
Russia Calls for Halt on U.S. Adoptions - NYTimes.com
Russia Calls for Halt on U.S. Adoptions - NYTimes.com: "Speaking to Artyom in both Russian and English, Mr. Astakhov asked him about his adoptive mother, Ms. Hansen. Artyom said she was “bad.”
“Did she hit you?” Mr. Astakhov asked.
Artyom said no, but then motioned to show that she had pulled his hair.
“Did you cry?” Mr. Astakhov asked.
“Yes,” Artyom said.
“You are a man, you shouldn’t cry,” Mr. Astakhov said."
“Did she hit you?” Mr. Astakhov asked.
Artyom said no, but then motioned to show that she had pulled his hair.
“Did you cry?” Mr. Astakhov asked.
“Yes,” Artyom said.
“You are a man, you shouldn’t cry,” Mr. Astakhov said."
Glenn Beck Inc - Forbes.com
Glenn Beck Inc - Forbes.com: "Beck acknowledges he wasn't taking his medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder at the time (he rarely does on tour, he says). 'I bet you it's safe to say I lose 20% of what goes on in my head because I'm currently doing something else, and I can't stop to write it down.' Adds Chris Balfe, 'Thank God.'"
Glenn Beck Inc - Forbes.com
Glenn Beck Inc - Forbes.com: "Start with publishing, the most lucrative unit. Kevin Balfe keeps a spreadsheet of every new idea Beck blurts out. At last count there were 17--fiction, nonfiction and self-help--that survived a vetting; that doesn't include 10 or so potentially marketable thoughts Beck dropped during a semiannual skull session with his publisher, Simon & Schuster, earlier this year. Most of his six published books--each hit the New York Times bestseller list, with five debuting at No. 1--have grown out of some other performance or activity."
Glenn Beck Inc - Forbes.com
Glenn Beck Inc - Forbes.com: "With a deadpan, Beck insists that he is not political: 'I could give a flying crap about the political process.' Making money, on the other hand, is to be taken very seriously, and controversy is its own coinage. 'We're an entertainment company,' Beck says. He has managed to monetize virtually everything that comes out of his mouth. He gets $13 million a year from print (books plus the ten-issue-a-year magazine Fusion). Radio brings in $10 million. Digital (including a newsletter, the ad-supported Glennbeck.com and merchandise) pulls in $4 million. Speaking and events are good for $3 million and television for $2 million."
Glenn Beck Inc - Forbes.com
Glenn Beck Inc - Forbes.com: "He will work in several plugs for tonight's featured offering, a Web subscription service called Insider Extreme ($75 a year for behind-the-scenes footage, a fourth hour of his radio show, ten-minute history lessons and so on). 'I can multitask like crazy,' says Beck. 'I'm riddled with ADD--a blessing and a curse.'"
Why You Hold On to Clutter - Clutter - Lifehacker
Why You Hold On to Clutter - Clutter - Lifehacker: "In 'The power of touch: An examination of the effect of duration of physical contact on the valuation of objects', researcher James Wolf reported that the longer a person touches an object, the greater value assigned to that item. These conclusions were derived from two studies where people attended an auction and were told that they would be bidding on coffee cups. Before bidding on the items, subjects went around a room inspecting the average, nothing-special-about-them, coffee cups that were going to be put up for sale. Observers found that 'examining an item for longer periods of time resulted in greater attachment to the item and thus higher valuations.' Meaning that the longer a subject touched and observed a coffee cup during the inspection period, the more likely he was to buy the cup and pay even more for it than its sticker price."
Thursday, April 8
Eating for America | Life and style | The Observer
Eating for America | Life and style | The Observer: "Steingarten is perhaps one of only a handful of food critics who routinely takes a gun when he goes for a pizza. The gun is a non-contact thermometer and it tells him the heat of the oven: the crucial factor, he believes, in the success of the pizza base. As we leave the dumpling restaurant he has it cradled under his arm. And this gun, he explains, is not his only weapon in his fight for American taste. He also packs an instrument that allows him to measure the amount of sugar in a liquid. This has been his key strategic tool in a concerted two-year campaign to find the perfect peach. (One of the great things about Steingarten's books, and there are many, is that he explains the often simple reasons why our food no longer tastes as good as it ought to. In the case of peaches it's because - contrary to what the supermarkets might like you to believe - peaches, as well as oranges and grapes and dates, don't continue to ripen once they have been picked.)"
Identity Thieves Filed For $4 Million in Tax Refunds Using Names of Living and Dead | Threat Level | Wired.com
Identity Thieves Filed For $4 Million in Tax Refunds Using Names of Living and Dead | Threat Level | Wired.com: "Rigmaiden gave the informant details instructions for “washing” the currency in lantern fuel to remove any drug or explosives residue that might be picked up by a drug-sniffing dog. He was also told to double vacuum-seal the currency, place it in the cavity of a toy and gift wrap the toy with a birthday card intended for a dying child. Rigmaiden allegedly told the informant he would send someone armed carrying a semi-automatic rifle to pick up the package from a drop address. He planned to send an encrypted mail to the media, which contained details of the operation. If his courier was arrested in a sting operation, he’d send the media the key to decrypt his message. This would embarrass law enforcement, he allegedly said, because the public would know agents had put people at risk by conducting a sting against someone known to be carrying a rifle.
Rigmaiden told the informant at various times that he was an encryption and privacy expert and discussed building aerial drone assassins that would be perfect for taking out politicians via remote control, Fleischman wrote in his affidavit."
Rigmaiden told the informant at various times that he was an encryption and privacy expert and discussed building aerial drone assassins that would be perfect for taking out politicians via remote control, Fleischman wrote in his affidavit."
In India, Getting Mothers Talking Saves Babies' Lives - TIME
In India, Getting Mothers Talking Saves Babies' Lives - TIME: "'Too many people in the health community think that health is about delivering little magic bullets to passive poor people,' said Anthony Costello of University College London's Institute of Child Health, which spearheaded the project. 'What that doesn't do is tap into the solidarity, the collective memory, the sharing, the supporting.'"
The Oracle Rewrites History | Mother Jones
The Oracle Rewrites History | Mother Jones: "What Greenspan left out is those guidance papers, as their name implies, didn’t require the recpipients to take any action whatsoever. He also neglected to mention that in spite of boatloads of research showing the proliferation of abusive lending practices, the Fed, as the Washington Post reported, not only blew off those worrying signs but refused to supervise lenders and their compliance with federal consumer protection laws. In 1998 it even adopted a policy 'to not conduct consumer compliance examinations of, nor to investigate consumer complaints regarding, nonbank subsidiaries of bank holding companies.' And when non-bank lenders were snapped up by big banks, which the Fed did actively supervise, it declined to scrutinize those non-banking subsidiaries."
Wednesday, April 7
Future of gaming | MetaFilter
Direct link to a great bibliography.
Future of gaming | MetaFilter: "Most of the work I found relating specifically to video games (mostly MMORPGS, it seems) and player motivation is done by Dr. Nick Yee, who is at PARC. What's really great is that he's kind enough to provide links to nearly all his papers directly from his CV.
To start out with, most articles which discuss online player motivation begin by citing Richard Bartle's Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades: Players Who Suit MUDs. Bartle described four basic approaches to how players tackle MUDs, based on his experience in running and building these game systems. Specifically, his interest was in how to build games that would have some manner of balance between the player types. In a nutshell, he said that there were four main motivations for play (this was within a MUD context):
Achievement within the game context
Exploration
Socializing
Griefing
This basic typology of online gamers is expanded upon and critiqued by later work, but Bartle really set the stage."
Future of gaming | MetaFilter: "Most of the work I found relating specifically to video games (mostly MMORPGS, it seems) and player motivation is done by Dr. Nick Yee, who is at PARC. What's really great is that he's kind enough to provide links to nearly all his papers directly from his CV.
To start out with, most articles which discuss online player motivation begin by citing Richard Bartle's Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades: Players Who Suit MUDs. Bartle described four basic approaches to how players tackle MUDs, based on his experience in running and building these game systems. Specifically, his interest was in how to build games that would have some manner of balance between the player types. In a nutshell, he said that there were four main motivations for play (this was within a MUD context):
Achievement within the game context
Exploration
Socializing
Griefing
This basic typology of online gamers is expanded upon and critiqued by later work, but Bartle really set the stage."
Future of gaming | MetaFilter
Future of gaming | MetaFilter: "Most of the work I found relating specifically to video games (mostly MMORPGS, it seems) and player motivation is done by Dr. Nick Yee, who is at PARC. What's really great is that he's kind enough to provide links to nearly all his papers directly from his CV.
To start out with, most articles which discuss online player motivation begin by citing Richard Bartle's Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades: Players Who Suit MUDs. Bartle described four basic approaches to how players tackle MUDs, based on his experience in running and building these game systems. Specifically, his interest was in how to build games that would have some manner of balance between the player types. In a nutshell, he said that there were four main motivations for play (this was within a MUD context):
Achievement within the game context
Exploration
Socializing
Griefing
This basic typology of online gamers is expanded upon and critiqued by later work, but Bartle really set the stage."
To start out with, most articles which discuss online player motivation begin by citing Richard Bartle's Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades: Players Who Suit MUDs. Bartle described four basic approaches to how players tackle MUDs, based on his experience in running and building these game systems. Specifically, his interest was in how to build games that would have some manner of balance between the player types. In a nutshell, he said that there were four main motivations for play (this was within a MUD context):
Achievement within the game context
Exploration
Socializing
Griefing
This basic typology of online gamers is expanded upon and critiqued by later work, but Bartle really set the stage."
Future of gaming | MetaFilter
Future of gaming | MetaFilter: "It's really interesting to me that these exploitative, utterly content-free productions targeting the lizard brain are coexisting with a renaissance of utterly brilliant games that push the boundaries of storytelling, machanics, form and genere into thoroughly inspiring new territories"
Future of gaming | MetaFilter
Future of gaming | MetaFilter: "He seemed to move from children's demand games ('Can I have six dollars to play this game?') to teen demand games (Well, it must be worth $20 because I've been doing it so much,' to 'incentivizing' good behavior (tooth brushing) which doesn't cost more than a brush & toothpaste, (and you can do without the toothpaste by using soda). And underlying it all was the idea of 'competition' and it's 'rewards'.
I think he's headed for a brick wall. To get to the behavior mod stage, people need the disposable income to invest in the first few levels of 'reward', (like Joe Beese said. Recall that Scientology broke out during the '60s, when there was plenty of loose money around.)"
I think he's headed for a brick wall. To get to the behavior mod stage, people need the disposable income to invest in the first few levels of 'reward', (like Joe Beese said. Recall that Scientology broke out during the '60s, when there was plenty of loose money around.)"
Future of gaming | MetaFilter
Future of gaming | MetaFilter: "And for the record, I love game design and frequently pitch game elements to my clients. I don't think that the ubiquity of gameplay and game interface/design elements, as described in the lecture, is feasible or desirable–if everything is a game, then nothing is a game."
Fruits and Veggies Prevent Cancer? Not So Much, It Turns Out - Shots - Health News Blog : NPR
Fruits and Veggies Prevent Cancer? Not So Much, It Turns Out - Shots - Health News Blog : NPR: "But meanwhile, there's a pretty strong reason for everybody to continue eating lots of fruits and vegetables. It's called cardiovascular disease.
A 2004 study in the JNCI found that eating five servings of fruits and vegetables a day is associated with a 28 percent lower risk of heart disease and stroke, compared to people who eat fewer than 1.5 servings a day.
Incidentally, that study also failed to find an association between eating fruits and vegetables with either cancer incidence or cancer deaths."
A 2004 study in the JNCI found that eating five servings of fruits and vegetables a day is associated with a 28 percent lower risk of heart disease and stroke, compared to people who eat fewer than 1.5 servings a day.
Incidentally, that study also failed to find an association between eating fruits and vegetables with either cancer incidence or cancer deaths."
Fruits and Veggies Prevent Cancer? Not So Much, It Turns Out - Shots - Health News Blog : NPR
Fruits and Veggies Prevent Cancer? Not So Much, It Turns Out - Shots - Health News Blog : NPR: "But in the general population, the studies tend to draw more health-conscious people who eat better. So, researchers end up comparing healthy people who happen to eat more fruits and veggies to cancer patients more likely to eat like a truly representative population. That makes it look like eating fruit and veggies is associated with noncancerous healthiness."
Tuesday, April 6
Cincinnati Magazine
Cincinnati Magazine: "So when you visit the troops now, how do you rein in some of your strongly held beliefs about war? Oh, that’s easy. It’s just really not the place for that. Quite often in these places like Afghanistan and Iraq, it’s a very apolitical situation. The job that day is not to wonder why Donald Rumsfeld or Gates did what he did, it’s to get through the day without getting blown up and getting back to the dining facility at sundown. That’s the job. So, you know, it’s really not OK to discuss “Well you know, the Project for New American Century says dadadada.” They’re like, “Yeah, I know man, that’s great. But today is Don’t Get Blown Up Day.”"
Monday, April 5
TED: Negroponte Says OLPC Started Netbook Craze; Will Open-Source Its Hardware
TED: Negroponte Says OLPC Started Netbook Craze; Will Open-Source Its Hardware: "Nicholas Negroponte, founder of One Laptop for Child, today at the TED Conference claimed credit for instigating the rise of netbooks. He said we can thank OLPC, which he proposed three years ago, for estimates that netbooks will be half the market in 12 months."
The Most Reasonable Letter We've Ever Received From A Guy Whose Bank Misplaced $14,000 - The Consumerist
The Most Reasonable Letter We've Ever Received From A Guy Whose Bank Misplaced $14,000 - The Consumerist: "But that’s not the point. I shouldn’t have to write things like this in order to provoke my bank into at least pretending they give a crap that they’ve lost a bunch of my money. I have entrusted Bank of America with my day to day finances since 1993. They claim their business is built on maintaining that trust. Their Web site is littered with words like “secure,” “trust,” “confidence” and so on. And, for me, part of maintaining that trust is showing serious personal concern about a failure in one of the basic functions of a bank, which is to keep track of money."
Mark Bernstein: NeoVictorian Computing
Mark Bernstein: NeoVictorian Computing: "Part of Realism is addressing the world as it is. Data are complicated; when we reduce everything to a hierarchy, we're distorting the world. Everything is intertwingled; when we pretend that clear signage will keep people from being lost or being confused, we're distorting the world. The audience is smarter than we are; when we pretend that real people can't understand inheritance, we're deceiving ourselves. Software that distorts the world can be a lie."
Mark Bernstein: NeoVictorian Computing
Mark Bernstein: NeoVictorian Computing: "The lore of software speaks of great minds and decisive moments.
In the beginning, so our myths and stories tell us, the programmer created the program from the eternal nothingness of the void. Whether it is Stallman typing teco macros and wearing out the shift keys; Chuck Moore typing backwards at Kitt Peak; Goldberg, Deutsch, Robson et. al. in the parclands of California; billg hunched over Allen’s Altair emulator; Bill Joy’s VAX crashing and deleting vi multibuffer support for the next ten years; Gabriel doing The Right Thing at Lucid; or Larry Wall doing whatever....
This is the language of romance and Romanticism, honoring the individual mind and body and its struggle against the elements and the Gods and the crashing VAX. This is the language in which we programmers secretly believe."
In the beginning, so our myths and stories tell us, the programmer created the program from the eternal nothingness of the void. Whether it is Stallman typing teco macros and wearing out the shift keys; Chuck Moore typing backwards at Kitt Peak; Goldberg, Deutsch, Robson et. al. in the parclands of California; billg hunched over Allen’s Altair emulator; Bill Joy’s VAX crashing and deleting vi multibuffer support for the next ten years; Gabriel doing The Right Thing at Lucid; or Larry Wall doing whatever....
This is the language of romance and Romanticism, honoring the individual mind and body and its struggle against the elements and the Gods and the crashing VAX. This is the language in which we programmers secretly believe."
Colleges Dream of Paperless, iPad-centric Education | Gadget Lab | Wired.com
Colleges Dream of Paperless, iPad-centric Education | Gadget Lab | Wired.com: "“Much of my learning comes from a physical interaction with the text: bookmarks, highlights, page-tearing, sticky notes and other marks representing the importance of certain passages — not to mention margin notes, where most of my paper ideas come from and interaction with the material occurs,” Aaron Horvath, a senior at Princeton, told the school paper last year. “All these things have been lost, and if not lost they’re too slow to keep up with my thinking, and the ‘features’ have been rendered useless.”"
Engagement Economy [SR-1183] | Institute For The Future
Engagement Economy [SR-1183] | Institute For The Future: "In the economy of engagement, it is less and less important to compete for attention, and more and more important to compete for things like brain cycles and interactive bandwidth. Crowd-dependent projects must capture the mental energy and the active effort it takes to make individual contributions to a larger whole.
But how, exactly, do you turn attention into engagement? How do you convert a member of the crowd into a member of your team? To answer these questions, innovative organizations will have to grapple with the new challenge of harnessing 'participation bandwidth.' To do so, they may start to take their cues not from the world of business, but rather from the world of play. Game designers, virtual world builders, social media developers, and other 'funware' creators have the potential to offer essential design strategies and economic theories for otherwise 'serious' initiatives."
But how, exactly, do you turn attention into engagement? How do you convert a member of the crowd into a member of your team? To answer these questions, innovative organizations will have to grapple with the new challenge of harnessing 'participation bandwidth.' To do so, they may start to take their cues not from the world of business, but rather from the world of play. Game designers, virtual world builders, social media developers, and other 'funware' creators have the potential to offer essential design strategies and economic theories for otherwise 'serious' initiatives."
Sunday, April 4
Man arrested at Large Hadron Collider claims he's from the future - Crave at CNET UK
Man arrested at Large Hadron Collider claims he's from the future - Crave at CNET UK: "A would-be saboteur arrested today at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland made the bizarre claim that he was from the future. Eloi Cole, a strangely dressed young man, said that he had travelled back in time to prevent the LHC from destroying the world.
The LHC successfully collided particles at record force earlier this week, a milestone Mr Cole was attempting to disrupt by stopping supplies of Mountain Dew to the experiment's vending machines. He also claimed responsibility for the infamous baguette sabotage in November last year."
The LHC successfully collided particles at record force earlier this week, a milestone Mr Cole was attempting to disrupt by stopping supplies of Mountain Dew to the experiment's vending machines. He also claimed responsibility for the infamous baguette sabotage in November last year."
Why I won't buy an iPad (and think you shouldn't, either) - Boing Boing
Why I won't buy an iPad (and think you shouldn't, either) - Boing Boing: "The model of interaction with the iPad is to be a 'consumer,' what William Gibson memorably described as 'something the size of a baby hippo, the color of a week-old boiled potato, that lives by itself, in the dark, in a double-wide on the outskirts of Topeka. It's covered with eyes and it sweats constantly. The sweat runs into those eyes and makes them sting. It has no mouth... no genitals, and can only express its mute extremes of murderous rage and infantile desire by changing the channels on a universal remote.'"
Why I won't buy an iPad (and think you shouldn't, either) - Boing Boing
Why I won't buy an iPad (and think you shouldn't, either) - Boing Boing: "The original Apple ][ came with schematics for the circuit boards, and birthed a generation of hardware and software hackers who upended the world for the better. If you wanted your kid to grow up to be a confident, entrepreneurial, and firmly in the camp that believes that you should forever be rearranging the world to make it better, you bought her an Apple ][ ."
Why I won't buy an iPad (and think you shouldn't, either) - Boing Boing
Why I won't buy an iPad (and think you shouldn't, either) - Boing Boing: "So what does Marvel do to 'enhance' its comics? They take away the right to give, sell or loan your comics. What an improvement. Way to take the joyous, marvellous sharing and bonding experience of comic reading and turn it into a passive, lonely undertaking that isolates, rather than unites. Nice one, Misney."
Building A "Longboard Land Paddle" - Silverfish Longboarding - The Longboard Skateboarding Community
Building A "Longboard Land Paddle" - Silverfish Longboarding - The Longboard Skateboarding Community: "Well I saw this new thing online not too long ago and had the pleasure of trying one while at the beach this summer, and man was it fun! I had to have one for myself but currently being a college student I don't exactly have the funds to be throwing at a ~$150 bamboo pole with rubber on it. So using the trusty internet and brushing up my knowledge of Epoxy, Bamboo types, and General Construction. I was able to make my own that is quite compaireable to the one I rode with at the beach."
Manic Pixie Dream Girls Are The Scourge Of Modern Cinema - garden state - Jezebel
Manic Pixie Dream Girls Are The Scourge Of Modern Cinema - garden state - Jezebel: "The always-relevant Onion A.V. Club has coined a term for the type of movie girl-woman whom we've long despised: the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. The A.V. Club defines the MPDG as 'that bubbly, shallow cinematic creature that exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures.'"
The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs : An open letter to the people of the world
The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs : An open letter to the people of the world: "The truth is, all over the world, across every culture, there exists a sense of yearning. A kind of malaise. An emptiness. At the risk of sounding like Dr. Seuss: There is a hole in your soul. That is what we’re addressing at Apple. That is the hole we aim to fill. Sadly, as you may have begun to suspect, that hole can never really be filled. The truth is that modernity, the condition of living in our modern world, has inflicted terrible wounds on your inner self. These wounds can never be healed. They can only be treated."
Friday, April 2
The Washington Monthly
The Washington Monthly: "How's this for an April Fools' Day joke? Imagine 128 House Republicans, which is more than 70 percent of the entire Republican caucus, trying to claim credit for economic recovery efforts in their districts they voted against. Only this is no April Fools' Day joke. This hypocrisy is for real.
'So far 128 House Republicans have tried to claim credit for creating jobs they tried to stop and the only thing missing is the part when they yell April Fools!' said Ryan Rudominer, National Press Secretary, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. 'More than 70 percent of the House Republican Caucus is still trying to have it both ways by trying to take credit for President Obama's economic recovery policies that they voted against but even on April Fools' Day, voters will see what a joke the Republican hypocrisy is.'"
'So far 128 House Republicans have tried to claim credit for creating jobs they tried to stop and the only thing missing is the part when they yell April Fools!' said Ryan Rudominer, National Press Secretary, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. 'More than 70 percent of the House Republican Caucus is still trying to have it both ways by trying to take credit for President Obama's economic recovery policies that they voted against but even on April Fools' Day, voters will see what a joke the Republican hypocrisy is.'"
Next Big Thing - Literary Scholars Turn to Science - NYTimes.com
Next Big Thing - Literary Scholars Turn to Science - NYTimes.com: "Jonathan Gottschall, who has written extensively about using evolutionary theory to explain fiction, said “it’s a new moment of hope” in an era when everyone is talking about “the death of the humanities.” To Mr. Gottschall a scientific approach can rescue literature departments from the malaise that has embraced them over the last decade and a half. Zealous enthusiasm for the politically charged and frequently arcane theories that energized departments in the 1970s, ’80s and early ’90s — Marxism, structuralism, psychoanalysis — has faded. Since then a new generation of scholars have been casting about for The Next Big Thing.
The brain may be it. Getting to the root of people’s fascination with fiction and fantasy, Mr. Gottschall said, is like “mapping wonderland.”"
The brain may be it. Getting to the root of people’s fascination with fiction and fantasy, Mr. Gottschall said, is like “mapping wonderland.”"
Thursday, April 1
Looting Main Street : Rolling Stone
Looting Main Street : Rolling Stone: "If you want to know what life in the Third World is like, just ask Lisa Pack, an administrative assistant who works in the roads and transportation department in Jefferson County, Alabama. Pack got rudely introduced to life in post-crisis America last August, when word came down that she and 1,000 of her fellow public employees would have to take a little unpaid vacation for a while. The county, it turned out, was more than $5 billion in debt — meaning that courthouses, jails and sheriff's precincts had to be closed so that Wall Street banks could be paid."
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