William Gibson. Neuromancer: "A dark wave of rubble rose against a colorless sky, beyond its crest
the bleached, half-melted skeletons of city towers. The rubble wave was
textured like a net, rusting steel rods twisted gracefully as fine string,
vast slabs of concrete still clinging there. The foreground might once have
been a city square; there was a sort of stump, something that suggested a
fountain. At its base, the children and the soldier were frozen. The tableau
was confusing at first. Molly must have read it correctly before Case had
quite assimilated it, because he felt her tense. She spat, then stood.
Children. Feral, in rags. Teeth glittering like knives. Sores on their
contorted faces. The soldier on his back, mouth and throat open to the sky.
They were feeding."
Friday, July 2
Apple's Crazy Open Letter Doesn't Even Address The Real Issue - Yahoo! Finance
Apple's Crazy Open Letter Doesn't Even Address The Real Issue - Yahoo! Finance: "Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place.
Whoever crafted this train wreck of a sentence is probably going to lose his or her job. Leave aside the fact that this isn't English. Granted that signal strength is often being over reported, why does that particular grip cause the reported signal strength to go down?"
Whoever crafted this train wreck of a sentence is probably going to lose his or her job. Leave aside the fact that this isn't English. Granted that signal strength is often being over reported, why does that particular grip cause the reported signal strength to go down?"
The Associated Press: Prosecutors: NY suspect spilled Russia spy details
The Associated Press: Prosecutors: NY suspect spilled Russia spy details: "Earlier in the day, the lawyer for another suspect, Donald Heathfield, told a judge the case against his client was 'extremely thin.'
'It essentially suggests that they successfully infiltrated neighborhoods, cocktail parties and the PTA,' attorney Peter Krupp said."
'It essentially suggests that they successfully infiltrated neighborhoods, cocktail parties and the PTA,' attorney Peter Krupp said."
The Associated Press: Prosecutors: NY suspect spilled Russia spy details
The Associated Press: Prosecutors: NY suspect spilled Russia spy details: "Their cover was so deep, 'there is no inkling at all that their children who they live with have any idea their parents are Russian agents,' Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Farbiarz told U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald L. Ellis."
The “Thriller” Diaries | Vanity Fair
The “Thriller” Diaries | Vanity Fair: "About two weeks before the premiere, Jackson called Branca and, hyperventilating and speaking in a halting voice, ordered him to destroy the negative of “Thriller.” After much cajoling he revealed the reason for his decision. “He said the Jehovah’s Witnesses heard he was doing a werewolf video,” Branca recalls. “They told him that it promoted demonology and they were going to excommunicate him.” Branca conferred with Folsey and Landis, and all agreed that the “Thriller” negative had to be safeguarded. Landis immediately removed the film canisters from the lab and delivered them to Branca’s office, where they were locked up."
Thursday, July 1
William Gibson
William Gibson: "Q I'm picking up on a thread that seems to pervade several of your previous responses, in so much as your writing gift comes at a heavy price. It's almost a suffering ...something you can't and wouldn't want to live without, yet a beast that requires a great deal of time and effort to harness? A living hell for the duration of the work, no?
A Yikes! I must've sounded awfully whiny. Nothing quite as dramatic as that. Every job has its costs, some of which aren't so evident to people who haven't done it. But my intention was more to convey, to people who might want to write fiction, that the process they arrive at may not quite line up with our cultural paradigm of what writing fiction is, and that the blisters may form in places other than expected. When I started trying to write fiction, I read writers-on-writing collections, and very little of that, in retrospect, sounded much like what I've wound up having to do to make it happen.
When Bruce Sterling and I were writing The Difference Engine, I'd moan sometimes about the labor required (as much fun as that was, and often it was lots of fun, but I'm basically lazy). He always had the same response: 'Yeah, but it beats loading concrete blocks.' Which is so obviously true, and has since become a mantra of mine.
I don't always like writing, but I very much like having written."
A Yikes! I must've sounded awfully whiny. Nothing quite as dramatic as that. Every job has its costs, some of which aren't so evident to people who haven't done it. But my intention was more to convey, to people who might want to write fiction, that the process they arrive at may not quite line up with our cultural paradigm of what writing fiction is, and that the blisters may form in places other than expected. When I started trying to write fiction, I read writers-on-writing collections, and very little of that, in retrospect, sounded much like what I've wound up having to do to make it happen.
When Bruce Sterling and I were writing The Difference Engine, I'd moan sometimes about the labor required (as much fun as that was, and often it was lots of fun, but I'm basically lazy). He always had the same response: 'Yeah, but it beats loading concrete blocks.' Which is so obviously true, and has since become a mantra of mine.
I don't always like writing, but I very much like having written."
William Gibson
William Gibson: "Then Bruce Sterling's father gave him an Apple II. I guess he'd moved up to the first Mac. So there's Bruce on the phone from Austin: 'This is *serious*, man. This thing *automates* the process.' So I went down to Eaton's and bought a IIC and a dot-matrix printer, marked way down because the new Mac was the thing. So I never got the Selectric that had been the pro writer's awesomest tool when I'd started trying to write. I saw one of those for $29.95 in a charity shop, last year."
Wednesday, June 30
The Sentimental Futurist: Cybernetics And Art In William Gibson's Neuromancer - Research and Read Books, Journals, Articles at Questia Online Library
The Sentimental Futurist: Cybernetics And Art In William Gibson's Neuromancer - Research and Read Books, Journals, Articles at Questia Online Library: "Gibson is, nevertheless, one of the most inventive and ambitious artists in
SF, perhaps in spite of Neuromancer's success in mixing hard SF and scin-
tillating lyric. Unlike most SF, Gibson's writing is concerned with art, in
overt and subtle ways -- specifically, with SF as a medium for art. His critics
miss the point when they take exception to the prominence of style over
such putative hard SF qualities as fidelity to scientific plausibility in project-
ing the future. 1 I would argue that the lasting values of Gibson's works lie
precisely in his careful and complex crafting of an SF language that simulta-
neouly expresses a lyricism of estrangement and an allegory of the present.
Where traditional SF repeats obsessively the delusion that it is a form of
epic representation of the fate of humanity, Gibson's fiction returns, as to a
tonic, to the question of how artists can represent the human condition in a
social world saturated by cybernetic technologies."
SF, perhaps in spite of Neuromancer's success in mixing hard SF and scin-
tillating lyric. Unlike most SF, Gibson's writing is concerned with art, in
overt and subtle ways -- specifically, with SF as a medium for art. His critics
miss the point when they take exception to the prominence of style over
such putative hard SF qualities as fidelity to scientific plausibility in project-
ing the future. 1 I would argue that the lasting values of Gibson's works lie
precisely in his careful and complex crafting of an SF language that simulta-
neouly expresses a lyricism of estrangement and an allegory of the present.
Where traditional SF repeats obsessively the delusion that it is a form of
epic representation of the fate of humanity, Gibson's fiction returns, as to a
tonic, to the question of how artists can represent the human condition in a
social world saturated by cybernetic technologies."
Tuesday, June 29
Window to Dell Decline | MetaFilter
Window to Dell Decline | MetaFilter: "I've know IT guys who would secretly mark malfunctioning laptops and computers before sending them back to Dell for replacement. Dell would swear up and down they were sending them a new one as a replacement. When the IT guy would check the computer they got back, sure enough, there was the secret mark.
posted by eviltwin at 9:02 AM on June 29"
posted by eviltwin at 9:02 AM on June 29"
Window to Dell Decline | MetaFilter
Window to Dell Decline | MetaFilter: "When I got an e-mail from my boss's boss asking me to write a manual on how to do my job, I saw the writing on the wall. The end was near, but I went into ostrich mode and ignored the looming threat. After all, I had avoided being laid off for nine years. I'm invincible, and the company will fall apart without me. So when I had that uncomfortable conversation with my boss and the HR rep in the little room with the stack of laptops in the corner and the bag of badges, it came as a bit more of a surprise than it should have."
Monday, June 28
gladwell dot com - pandoras briefcase
gladwell dot com - pandoras briefcase: "The idea for Operation Mincemeat, Macintyre tells us, had its roots in a mystery story written by Basil Thomson, a former head of Scotland Yard's criminal-investigation unit. Thomson was the author of a dozen detective stories, and his 1937 book 'The Milliner's Hat Mystery' begins with the body of a dead man carrying a set of documents that turn out to be forged. 'The Milliner's Hat Mystery' was read by Ian Fleming, who worked for naval intelligence. Fleming helped create something called the Trout Memo, which contained a series of proposals for deceiving the Germans, including this idea of a dead man carrying forged documents. The memo was passed on to John Masterman, the head of the Twenty Committee—of which Montagu and Cholmondeley were members. Masterman, who also wrote mysteries on the side, starring an Oxford don and a Sherlock Holmes-like figure, loved the idea. Mincemeat, Macintyre writes, 'began as fiction, a plot twist in a long-forgotten novel, picked up by another novelist, and approved by a committee presided over by yet another novelist.'"
In Ordinary Lives, U.S. Sees the Work of Russian Agents - NYTimes.com
In Ordinary Lives, U.S. Sees the Work of Russian Agents - NYTimes.com: "In Cambridge, Mass., the couple known as Donald Heathfield and Tracey Foley, who appeared to be in their 40s and had two teenage sons, lived in an apartment building on a residential street where some Harvard professors and students live.
“She was very courteous; she was very nice,” Montse Monne-Corbero, who lives next door, said of Ms. Foley., who she said spoke with a foreign accent and was “pretty” with short blond hair."
“She was very courteous; she was very nice,” Montse Monne-Corbero, who lives next door, said of Ms. Foley., who she said spoke with a foreign accent and was “pretty” with short blond hair."
Scott Adams Blog: Exobrain 06/23/2010
Scott Adams Blog: Exobrain 06/23/2010: "I suppose other creatures use their environment for storing information, or programming their brains in limited ways. But I assume humans export the highest percentage of brain function to their environment, and it grows daily. The evolution of mind from inside the creature to outside the body fascinates me. Humans are turning the entire planet into an exobrain. Our brains can't hold all of the data we produce, so we look for ways to offload to books, websites, music, and architecture, to name a few storage devices. And we manipulate the environment to reprogram our brains as needed."
The Life of Tobias Wong, Designer - NYTimes.com
The Life of Tobias Wong, Designer - NYTimes.com: "His taste for stunts went beyond physical designs. In 2007, the soft-spoken (and stage shy) Mr. Wong sent Mr. Chorpash, the professor and friend, to the podium at a design conference to give an entire presentation pretending to be him — never mind that Mr. Chorpash is tall and Caucasian — while Mr. Wong sat amid baffled audience members, wearing a devilish smile."
Saturday, June 26
Police: Men shot each other to test pain - UPI.com
Police: Men shot each other to test pain - UPI.com: "Police said the two men shot each other at about 5:30 p.m. and apparently believed they had escaped injury until two days later when they were hospitalized with pain and had pellets surgically removed from their legs and buttocks."
Bungie.net : Jobs
Bungie.net : Jobs: "Do you dream about creating worlds imbued with real value and consequence? Can you find the fine line between a reward that encourages players to have fun and an incentive that enslaves them? Can you devise a way for a player to grow while preserving the delicate balance of an action game? If you answered yes to these questions (and you are a passionate work-a-holic game-o-phile) you might want to polish up your resume and apply to be Bungie’s next Player Investment Designer.
A Player Investment Designer develops a robust and rewarding investment path, supported by consistent, rich and secure incentives that drives player behavior toward having fun and investing in their characters, and then validates those systems through intense simulation, testing and iteration."
A Player Investment Designer develops a robust and rewarding investment path, supported by consistent, rich and secure incentives that drives player behavior toward having fun and investing in their characters, and then validates those systems through intense simulation, testing and iteration."
Friday, June 25
Easiest way to Enable Google Voice Push Notification on iPhone - Revised [Tutorials] | TruVoIPBuzz
Easiest way to Enable Google Voice Push Notification on iPhone - Revised [Tutorials] | TruVoIPBuzz: "Easiest way to Enable Google Voice Push Notification on iPhone – Revised [Tutorials]"
Tuesday, June 22
Can Google Voice ring my iPod Touch? - Google Voice Help
Can Google Voice ring my iPod Touch? - Google Voice Help: "Yes you can receive FREE incoming calls on the iPod touch using Google Voice & Gizmo5, however, you guys are all missing the most important piece of the puzzle.
Here is what you need to receive google voice calls on the iPod touch
1. iPod touch 2G
2. Headset with mic and remote
3. Gizmo5 account
4. Gizmo5 Installed on your PC
4. Google Voice Account
5. Nimbuzz IM for iPod touch
6. Wireless internet connection"
Here is what you need to receive google voice calls on the iPod touch
1. iPod touch 2G
2. Headset with mic and remote
3. Gizmo5 account
4. Gizmo5 Installed on your PC
4. Google Voice Account
5. Nimbuzz IM for iPod touch
6. Wireless internet connection"
"Saneman" by Adam Sternbergh | The Walrus | July/August 2010
"Saneman" by Adam Sternbergh | The Walrus | July/August 2010: "Our culture was like an off-brand imposter perfume. If you like Hall and Oates, you’ll love Chilliwack!"
Monday, June 21
Downgrade iPhone 3G 3GS iOS 4 GM to OS 3.1.3 | iPhone
Downgrade iPhone 3G 3GS iOS 4 GM to OS 3.1.3 | iPhone: "and now you want to go back to OS 3.1.3 or lower for whatever reason, we created a step by step guide for iPhone 3G and 3GS running on iOS 4 GM. iOS 4 is still in GM and you needn’t to edit your host files for iPhone 3GS to bypass Apple signatures."
Sunday, June 20
Mind and Muscle Forums > tendonitis healing procedures
Mind and Muscle Forums > tendonitis healing procedures: "The only thing that ended up working for me (and I saye resoundingly -ME) was near infrared light therapy. I stumbeld upon a technology while doing research for my diabetic father who had developed neuropathy. It seems that a company named Annodyne had received FDA approval to build and market these near infrared light units to diabetics (by prescription) suffereing from neuropathy. It seems that 890nm light liberates Nitric Oxide from the hemoglobin and that helps repair nerve endings. Another byproduct of this light therapy is new tissue deployment. It works with tedonitis as well as severe open wounds such as those from bed sores. Annodyne has a pattent on the technology and they charge $2,500 for the cheap unit. I built one for my dad and while I was at it, one for myself. I spent a total of $360 for the materials for both."
iOS 4.0 Breaking Existing AdMob-Enabled iPhone Apps. | iPad Weekly
iOS 4.0 Breaking Existing AdMob-Enabled iPhone Apps. | iPad Weekly: "Apple’s iOS 4.0 is breaking existing applications available in the App Store which make use of AdMob’s mobile advertising SDK and other non-Apple advertising platforms.
We first received the tip from entrepreneur Mark Suster on last Thursday’s episode of This Week in Venture Capital. Suster commented on the show, “What I’m told about OS 4 is that it breaks any application using AdMob and its breaking applications that are using other ad platforms. I have direct knowledge that it’s breaking all the other platforms [other than iAd]. It’s breaking MobClix and other participants.”"
We first received the tip from entrepreneur Mark Suster on last Thursday’s episode of This Week in Venture Capital. Suster commented on the show, “What I’m told about OS 4 is that it breaks any application using AdMob and its breaking applications that are using other ad platforms. I have direct knowledge that it’s breaking all the other platforms [other than iAd]. It’s breaking MobClix and other participants.”"
iPhone OS 3.0: Error 13019 during sync
iPhone OS 3.0: Error 13019 during sync: "If the steps above do not resolve the issue, attempt to sync an empty iTunes music library to the device while logged in as a new admin user. Follow these steps to create a new admin user:
Windows Vista and Windows XP
From the Start menu, choose Control Panel.
Open User Accounts.
Select Create a new account and follow the instructions to complete the account setup process.
Once the new account is created, choose Log Off from the Start menu.
Log in to the newly created user account.
Mac OS X
From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
Choose View > Accounts.
Click the ' ' (you may need to authenticate to be able to click this).
Give the new user a name and short name and enter a password.
Select the checkbox for 'Allow user to administer this computer'. This makes the user an admin user.
Click Create Account.
Log out and then log in to the new account."
Windows Vista and Windows XP
From the Start menu, choose Control Panel.
Open User Accounts.
Select Create a new account and follow the instructions to complete the account setup process.
Once the new account is created, choose Log Off from the Start menu.
Log in to the newly created user account.
Mac OS X
From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
Choose View > Accounts.
Click the ' ' (you may need to authenticate to be able to click this).
Give the new user a name and short name and enter a password.
Select the checkbox for 'Allow user to administer this computer'. This makes the user an admin user.
Click Create Account.
Log out and then log in to the new account."
Friday, June 18
Gardner's date with firing squad revives talk of Mormon blood atonement - Salt Lake Tribune
Gardner's date with firing squad revives talk of Mormon blood atonement - Salt Lake Tribune: "Mormon doctrine was 'full of promised blessings for the obedient, blessings which were not forthcoming as the Saints were driven from pillar to post,' says Peterson, who now lives in Issaquah, Wash. 'An obverse logic took over: The Saints were obviously remiss in their duties; they deserved to suffer; the quickest way back to divine favor was to inflict more suffering on themselves.'
Their approach, he says, would be similar to that of Roman Catholics during the Middle Ages in the aftermath of the plague, which decimated Europe. Religious orders in which members would flog themselves as penance 'arose to deal with the psychological effect of the terrible scourge.'
The idea of self-punishing was central to the 'guilt I inherited or felt in the people around me,' says Peterson, who was reared in a small Mormon community in northern Arizona. 'We believed in a severe God who didn't forgive easily. You had to pay with some kind of pain.'
Blood atonement also figured in Peterson's novel The Backslider , when one character's throat is cut to atone for his homosexual behavior and the protagonist considers killing himself for his continued sexual sins."
Their approach, he says, would be similar to that of Roman Catholics during the Middle Ages in the aftermath of the plague, which decimated Europe. Religious orders in which members would flog themselves as penance 'arose to deal with the psychological effect of the terrible scourge.'
The idea of self-punishing was central to the 'guilt I inherited or felt in the people around me,' says Peterson, who was reared in a small Mormon community in northern Arizona. 'We believed in a severe God who didn't forgive easily. You had to pay with some kind of pain.'
Blood atonement also figured in Peterson's novel The Backslider , when one character's throat is cut to atone for his homosexual behavior and the protagonist considers killing himself for his continued sexual sins."
POGUE UNPLUGGED - Pogue's Posts Blog - NYTimes.com
POGUE UNPLUGGED - Pogue's Posts Blog - NYTimes.com: "there’s still no single technical level of writing that makes everybody happy.
I still get complaints from total newbies, who are bewildered by terms like “smartphone” and “plasma TV.” And I still get bashed by the gearheads, who find the column not nearly technical enough.
I think a lot about the technical level of the column. Over the years, I’ve adopted a number of tricks that are designed to communicate technical points without losing the novices–and one of them is avoiding jargon."
I still get complaints from total newbies, who are bewildered by terms like “smartphone” and “plasma TV.” And I still get bashed by the gearheads, who find the column not nearly technical enough.
I think a lot about the technical level of the column. Over the years, I’ve adopted a number of tricks that are designed to communicate technical points without losing the novices–and one of them is avoiding jargon."
Technology - Pogue's Posts Blog - NYTimes.com
Technology - Pogue's Posts Blog - NYTimes.com: "“Effective this past month, all C.S.R.’s were versed on the usage of blocks. A new policy has gone into effect regarding how to handle Escalated Calls regarding data charges. Now, a representative can be reprimanded and even terminated for proactively offering to block any of the following:
Web Access Blocks
Data Blocks
Premium SMS blocking
Application download blocking
Vcast Music or Vcast Video download blocks
“Essentially, we are to upsell customers on the $9.99 25 mb/month or $29.99 unlimited packages for customers. Customers are not to be credited for charges unless they ask for the credit."
Verizon, so slimey.
Web Access Blocks
Data Blocks
Premium SMS blocking
Application download blocking
Vcast Music or Vcast Video download blocks
“Essentially, we are to upsell customers on the $9.99 25 mb/month or $29.99 unlimited packages for customers. Customers are not to be credited for charges unless they ask for the credit."
Verizon, so slimey.
Thursday, June 17
The World Wide Website of Ricky Jay
The World Wide Website of Ricky Jay: "Yet far more than Malini's contem- poraries, the famous conjurers Herrmann, Kellar, Thurston, and Houdini, Malini was the embodiment of what a magician should be-not a performer who requires a fully equipped stage, elaborate apparatus, elephants, or handcuffs to accomplish his mysteries, but one who can stand a few inches from you and with a borrowed coin, a lemon, a knife, a tumbler, or a pack of cards convince you he performs miracles.'"
The World Wide Website of Ricky Jay
The World Wide Website of Ricky Jay: "Magic is not about someone else sharing the newest secret. Magic is about working hard to discover a secret and making something out of it. You start with some small principle and you build a theatrical presentation out of it. You do something that's technically artistic that creates a small drama. There are two ways you can expand your knowledge-through books and by gaining the confidence of fellow-magicians who will explain these things. Ricky to a large degree gets his information from books-old books-and then when he per- forms for magicians they want to know, `Where did that come from?' And he's appalled that they haven't read this stuff. So there's this large body of magic lumpen who really don't understand Ricky's legacy-his contribution to the art, his place in the art, his technical proficiency and creativity. They think he's an �litist and a snob.'"
Rent a White Guy - Magazine - The Atlantic
Rent a White Guy - Magazine - The Atlantic: "NOT LONG AGO I was offered work as a quality-control expert with an American company in China I’d never heard of. No experience necessary—which was good, because I had none. I’d be paid $1,000 for a week, put up in a fancy hotel, and wined and dined in Dongying, an industrial city in Shandong province I’d also never heard of. The only requirements were a fair complexion and a suit.
“I call these things ‘White Guy in a Tie’ events,” a Canadian friend of a friend named Jake told me during the recruitment pitch he gave me in Beijing, where I live. “Basically, you put on a suit, shake some hands, and make some money. We’ll be in ‘quality control,’ but nobody’s gonna be doing any quality control. You in?”"
“I call these things ‘White Guy in a Tie’ events,” a Canadian friend of a friend named Jake told me during the recruitment pitch he gave me in Beijing, where I live. “Basically, you put on a suit, shake some hands, and make some money. We’ll be in ‘quality control,’ but nobody’s gonna be doing any quality control. You in?”"
Wednesday, June 16
Fire Footbag | Your Footbag (hacky sack �) Shop
Fire Footbag | Your Footbag (hacky sack �) Shop: "FIRE FOOTBAG
Read Product Reviews
Write a Review
$14.99
Quantity:
S & H: $4.00 / Order
Footbag Details
Compare All Footbags
Panels 2
Material Kevlar
Approx. Diameter
(inches) 2.5
Fill Gravel
Weight 48
Stall Rating 4
Set Rating 4
Durability 8
Kick Rating 5
Origin Australia
User Rating 3 reviews;
2.67 out of 5 stars
BY PURCHASING THIS FOOTBAG YOU AGREE TO THE FOLLOWING:
YOU HAVE READ THE AND UNDERSTAND THE SAFETY FIRST BLOG POST AND WATCHED THE ASSOCIATED VIDEOS.
YOU ARE AT LEAST 18 YEARS OF AGE, AND/OR YOU WILL ONLY USE THIS PRODUCT UNDER DIRECT ADULT SUPERVISION."
Read Product Reviews
Write a Review
$14.99
Quantity:
S & H: $4.00 / Order
Footbag Details
Compare All Footbags
Panels 2
Material Kevlar
Approx. Diameter
(inches) 2.5
Fill Gravel
Weight 48
Stall Rating 4
Set Rating 4
Durability 8
Kick Rating 5
Origin Australia
User Rating 3 reviews;
2.67 out of 5 stars
BY PURCHASING THIS FOOTBAG YOU AGREE TO THE FOLLOWING:
YOU HAVE READ THE AND UNDERSTAND THE SAFETY FIRST BLOG POST AND WATCHED THE ASSOCIATED VIDEOS.
YOU ARE AT LEAST 18 YEARS OF AGE, AND/OR YOU WILL ONLY USE THIS PRODUCT UNDER DIRECT ADULT SUPERVISION."
Tuesday, June 15
Play This Thing! | Game Reviews | Free Games | Independent Games | Game Culture
Play This Thing! | Game Reviews | Free Games | Independent Games | Game Culture: "Which is why we have Pathfinder. Pathfinder is not D&D 3.5 because it says so, and because it doesn't have the D&D logo on it and because it uses different words in different arrangements to describe a game system that, well, gosh darn, what do you know, perhaps by sheer coincidence, is remarkably, even amazingly similar to D&D 3.5. Thus, it avoids violating both trademark and copyright law; copyright covers 'the tangible expression of an idea' not 'an idea,' so this is perfectly legal, and anyway, it's published under an Open Gaming License for D20 products, so it would be doubly hard for WOTC to *** about it to the law."
The Resistance | Board Game | BoardGameGeek
The Resistance | Board Game | BoardGameGeek: "This is my reworking of the original game. I put it together for my Chinese ESL students, basing it on the fast-food world rather than the more controversial idea of rising against the government (that kind of talk can get you in trouble around here!). I also wanted a 'Mafia / Werewolf' type game (very, very popular here), but with more emphasis on speaking and no eliminations, so this fits the bill nicely. Play is exactly the same as the original, but with members of a rival fast-food chain trying to steal secret new products. Enjoy!"
In the Singularity Movement, Humans Are So Yesterday - NYTimes.com
In the Singularity Movement, Humans Are So Yesterday - NYTimes.com: "Day 4 includes test drives of Tesla Motors electric sports cars and a group genetic test, thanks to a company called deCODEme. By Day 6, people are annoyed by the BrinBot, which is interrupting lectures with its whirs and sputters. Someone tapes a pair of paper ears on it to try to humanize it. One executive sullenly declines to participate in another robot design exercise because no one in his group will consider making a sexbot."
In the Singularity Movement, Humans Are So Yesterday - NYTimes.com
In the Singularity Movement, Humans Are So Yesterday - NYTimes.com: "“The Singularity is not the great vision for society that Lenin had or Milton Friedman might have,” says Andrew Orlowski, a British journalist who has written extensively on techno-utopianism. “It is rich people building a lifeboat and getting off the ship.”"
In the Singularity Movement, Humans Are So Yesterday - NYTimes.com
In the Singularity Movement, Humans Are So Yesterday - NYTimes.com: "We will transcend all of the limitations of our biology,” says Raymond Kurzweil, the inventor and businessman who is the Singularity’s most ubiquitous spokesman and boasts that he intends to live for hundreds of years and resurrect the dead, including his own father. “That is what it means to be human — to extend who we are.”"
Monday, June 14
Steve's HFoG Blog: Bringing M�to the iPhone
Steve's HFoG Blog: Bringing M�to the iPhone: "This was a phenomenally satisfying project. I feel that I've produced a fantastic game and I've learned a lot along the way. I can now play my favorite card game during my commute! Will it prove to be financially profitable? That remains to be seen but either way it was well worth the undertaking. Bringing a game I love to the iPhone has been a reward unto itself."
In the Singularity Movement, Humans Are So Yesterday - NYTimes.com
In the Singularity Movement, Humans Are So Yesterday - NYTimes.com: "Some of Silicon Valley’s smartest and wealthiest people have embraced the Singularity. They believe that technology may be the only way to solve the world’s ills, while also allowing people to seize control of the evolutionary process. For those who haven’t noticed, the Valley’s most-celebrated company — Google — works daily on building a giant brain that harnesses the thinking power of humans in order to surpass the thinking power of humans."
The Wandering Soul - Vietnam Psychological Operations (PSYOP)
The Wandering Soul - Vietnam Psychological Operations (PSYOP): "Listen to the eerie sounds of 'The Wandering Soul' - also known as 'Ghost Tape Number 10' - that was broadcast by loudspeakers installed on Swifts and other units during 'Chieu Hoi' and Psychological Warfare missions to 'taunt' the enemy. 'So Moui' or 'Numbah Ten' was a common slang term used by both Vietnamese and Americans, meaning it was 'Really Bad'"
Zynga: Redefining the “Game of Life” | Epicenter�| Wired.com
Zynga: Redefining the “Game of Life” | Epicenter�| Wired.com: "In other words, by engaging in social games, say by stopping by a friend’s restaurant on CafeWorld, or helping a friend whack enemy gangsters on MafiaWars, we increase our connections in the world and can move those relationships from say, accepting someone’s friends request, to actually calling them on the phone. All in all, social gaming is another way to further develop your social relationships and feel more connected to the people you meet."
Fordham University Press
Fordham University Press: "What makes the modern university different from any other corporation?” asked Columbia’s Andrew Delbanco recently in the New York Times. “There is more and more reason to think: less and less,” he answered.
In this provocative book, Frank Donoghue shows how this growing corporate culture of higher education threatens its most fundamental values by erasing one of its defining features: the tenured professor."
In this provocative book, Frank Donoghue shows how this growing corporate culture of higher education threatens its most fundamental values by erasing one of its defining features: the tenured professor."
Radical Homemakers | MetaFilter
Radical Homemakers | MetaFilter: "Shannon Hayes tells the stories of men and women with ecological and feminist sensibilities who leave behind the world of academia and careers in favor of simple living and 'reclaiming domesticity from a consumer culture.'"
Greg Yaitanes “House” Interview transcription | Philip Bloom
Greg Yaitanes “House” Interview transcription | Philip Bloom: "PHILIP BLOOM
Yeah, I was with Robert Rodriguez a few weeks back as SXSW and we had a long chat and he was saying that he’s just got a 5D and he said it felt like being back in his ‘El Mariachi’ days, just being able to pull out a camera and be so small and lightweight it a freeing experience for him.
GREG YAITANES
Yeah, and it’s funny because El Mariachi was such a game-changer.� I know for me when I was coming up I had just made my short film and I was just thinking about the fact that I had shot it on Panavision and it was on 35mm and I found just the physical size of the camera kind of cool back then, but right when I had finished it, ‘El Mariachi’ had come out and this guy had made a whole feature film for $7,000."
Yeah, I was with Robert Rodriguez a few weeks back as SXSW and we had a long chat and he was saying that he’s just got a 5D and he said it felt like being back in his ‘El Mariachi’ days, just being able to pull out a camera and be so small and lightweight it a freeing experience for him.
GREG YAITANES
Yeah, and it’s funny because El Mariachi was such a game-changer.� I know for me when I was coming up I had just made my short film and I was just thinking about the fact that I had shot it on Panavision and it was on 35mm and I found just the physical size of the camera kind of cool back then, but right when I had finished it, ‘El Mariachi’ had come out and this guy had made a whole feature film for $7,000."
Before you know what kindness really is you must lose things. - Democratic Underground
Before you know what kindness really is you must lose things. - Democratic Underground: "Kindness - - by Naomi Shihab Nye
Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness."
Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness."
No, U.S. Didn’t Just ‘Discover’ $1T Afghan Motherlode (Updated) | Danger Room | Wired.com
No, U.S. Didn’t Just ‘Discover’ $1T Afghan Motherlode (Updated) | Danger Room | Wired.com: "None of the earlier U.S military reports on Afghan’s mineral riches cite that amount. And it might be prudent to be wary of any data coming out of Afghanistan’s own Mines Ministry, which “has long been considered one of the country’s most corrupt government departments,” The Wall Street Journal reports."
Sunday, June 13
Views Show How North Korea Policy Spread Misery - NYTimes.com
Views Show How North Korea Policy Spread Misery - NYTimes.com: "Now safe in her relatives’ home, she said, she marvels over how they enjoy delicacies like cucumbers in winter. But temporarily deserting her son and daughter, both in their mid-20s, has left her so guilt-ridden that she sometimes cannot swallow the food set in front of her. “I don’t know whether my children have managed to get some money, or whether they have starved to death,” she said, her eyes brimming with tears."
The Associated Press: Crews search for victims after Ark. floods kill 18
The Associated Press: Crews search for victims after Ark. floods kill 18: "The only Arkansas victim identified was Leslie Jez, a 23-year-old mother and wife from Foreman whose husband, Adam Jez, was listed among the flood's survivors.
'So ready to go camping this weekend,' she wrote on her Facebook page Monday. 'Kaden is going to love it!!' She later added: 'Not looking foward to that cold water, but sounds like I might change my mind after seeing how hot it's supposed to be.'
Authorities haven't said whether the child survived."
'So ready to go camping this weekend,' she wrote on her Facebook page Monday. 'Kaden is going to love it!!' She later added: 'Not looking foward to that cold water, but sounds like I might change my mind after seeing how hot it's supposed to be.'
Authorities haven't said whether the child survived."
Saturday, June 12
Chicago Journals - Journal of Political Economy
Chicago Journals - Journal of Political Economy: "Our findings show that introductory calculus professors significantly affect student achievement in both the contemporaneous course being taught and the follow‐on related curriculum. However, these methodologies yield very different conclusions regarding which professors are measured as high quality, depending on the outcome of interest used. We find that less experienced and less qualified professors produce students who perform significantly better in the contemporaneous course being taught, whereas more experienced and highly qualified professors produce students who perform better in the follow‐on related curriculum."
The Female Factor - In Sweden, the Men Can Have It All - NYTimes.com
The Female Factor - In Sweden, the Men Can Have It All - NYTimes.com: "Introducing “daddy leave” in 1995 had an immediate impact. No father was forced to stay home, but the family lost one month of subsidies if he did not. Soon more than eight in 10 men took leave. The addition of a second nontransferable father month in 2002 only marginally increased the number of men taking leave, but it more than doubled the amount of time they take."
The Female Factor - In Sweden, the Men Can Have It All - NYTimes.com
The Female Factor - In Sweden, the Men Can Have It All - NYTimes.com: "Back in Spoland, Sofia Karlsson, a police officer and the wife of Mikael Karlsson, said she found her husband most attractive “when he is in the forest with his rifle over his shoulder and the baby on his back.”"
Friday, June 11
Inside the writers room: Top scifi TV writers reveal tricks of the trade
Inside the writers room: Top scifi TV writers reveal tricks of the trade: "Javier Grillo-Marxuach: I have learned things from so many different people. Lost's Damon Lindelof is one of the most ingenious twisters of scene and story I've ever seen at work. He's a guy that you give a scene that is very stock and he comes up with a genius way of making it different. Watching that muscle at work is an extraordinary thing — and you learn it by watching a guy do it."
A Whole Lotta Nothing: Khan Academy
A Whole Lotta Nothing: Khan Academy: "My favorite project and talk from GEL 2010 was this one by Sal Khan. His amazing Khan Academy is what happens when you sit down and simply share comprehensive knowledge on every subject imaginable and make it freely accessible to as many people as possible.�"
David Foster Wallace - Commencement Speech at Kenyon University
David Foster Wallace - Commencement Speech at Kenyon University: "As I'm sure you guys know by now, it is extremely difficult to stay alert and attentive, instead of getting hypnotized by the constant monologue inside your own head (may be happening right now). Twenty years after my own graduation, I have come gradually to understand that the liberal arts clich�about teaching you how to think is actually shorthand for a much deeper, more serious idea: learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience. Because if you cannot exercise this kind of choice in adult life, you will be totally hosed. Think of the old clich�about quote the mind being an excellent servant but a terrible master.
This, like many clich�s, so lame and unexciting on the surface, actually expresses a great and terrible truth. It is not the least bit coincidental that adults who commit suicide with firearms almost always shoot themselves in: the head. They shoot the terrible master. And the truth is that most of these suicides are actually dead long before they pull the trigger."
This, like many clich�s, so lame and unexciting on the surface, actually expresses a great and terrible truth. It is not the least bit coincidental that adults who commit suicide with firearms almost always shoot themselves in: the head. They shoot the terrible master. And the truth is that most of these suicides are actually dead long before they pull the trigger."
A Letter to Chris Christie | Health Professionals & Allied Employees
A Letter to Chris Christie | Health Professionals & Allied Employees: "I have been teaching in our public school system for 9 years. I started at $36,000 a year. My college roommate started as an office worker at an accounting firm for $75,000. It was the same year. He told me he mostly made copies and plugged numbers into a computer. I was designing lesson plans, teaching classes of 30 students, some of whom had problems with drug abuse, crime, and depression. After nine years experience, I made $52,000 last year. I would like to point out that this is $8,000 less than your 'media relations' person. You know, the 25 year old who runs your Twitter and Facebook accounts. As for my college roommate, he now makes double what I do. We both have bachelor's degrees. But what do I know? I am the problem."
The Atlantic :: Magazine :: Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond?
The Atlantic :: Magazine :: Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond?: "Retail jewelers, especially the prestigious Fifth Avenue stores, prefer not to buy back diamonds from customers, because the offer they would make would most likely be considered ridiculously low. The 'keystone,' or markup, on a diamond and its setting may range from 100 to 200 percent, depending on the policy of the store;"
The Atlantic :: Magazine :: Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond?
The Atlantic :: Magazine :: Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond?: "Since the quantity of diamonds needed for engagement rings and other jewelry each year is satisfied by the production from the world's mines, this half-billion-carat supply of diamonds must be prevented from ever being put on the market. The moment a significant portion of the public begins selling diamonds from this inventory, the price of diamonds cannot be sustained. For the diamond invention to survive, the public must be inhibited from ever parting with its diamonds."
The Atlantic :: Magazine :: Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond?
The Atlantic :: Magazine :: Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond?: "A 'strategy for small diamond sales' was outlined, stressing the 'importance of quality, color and cut' over size."
The Atlantic :: Magazine :: Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond?
The Atlantic :: Magazine :: Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond?: "In 1951, N. W. Ayer found some resistance to its million-dollar publicity blitz. It noted in its annual strategy review:
The millions of brides and brides-to-be are subjected to at least two important pressures that work against the diamond engagement ring. Among the more prosperous, there is the sophisticated urge to be different as a means of being smart.... the lower-income groups would like to show more for the money than they can find in the diamond they can afford...
To remedy these problems, the advertising agency argued, 'It is essential that these pressures be met by the constant publicity to show that only the diamond is everywhere accepted and recognized as the symbol of betrothal.'"
The millions of brides and brides-to-be are subjected to at least two important pressures that work against the diamond engagement ring. Among the more prosperous, there is the sophisticated urge to be different as a means of being smart.... the lower-income groups would like to show more for the money than they can find in the diamond they can afford...
To remedy these problems, the advertising agency argued, 'It is essential that these pressures be met by the constant publicity to show that only the diamond is everywhere accepted and recognized as the symbol of betrothal.'"
Thursday, June 10
digital digs: forget gaming #hgi
digital digs: forget gaming #hgi: "For there to be a gift, not only must the donor or donee not perceive the gift as such, have no consciousness of it, no memory, no recognition; he or she must also forget it right away [a l'instant] and moreover this forgetting must be so radical that it exceeds even the psychoanalytic categorality of forgetting. . . . we are speaking here of an absolute forgetting – a forgetting that also absolves, that unbinds absolutely and infinitely more, therefore, than excuse, forgiveness, or acquittal.' Yet, this forgetfulness is not nothing, a mere 'non-experience': 'For there to be a gift event . . . something must come about or happen, in an instant, in an instant that no doubt does not belong to the economy of time, in a time without time, but also in such a way that this forgetting, without being something present, presentable, determinable, sensible or meaningful, is not nothing."
SCOUTING NY � Pocket Change
SCOUTING NY � Pocket Change: "I’m one of those people whose concept of the afterlife is that we live on until we’re forgotten – and for reasons I’m not eloquent enough to put into words, I hope Stephen Baltz is never forgotten."
Wednesday, June 9
Inside the List - New York Times
Inside the List - New York Times: "According to Reiter, the novels that make it to Leonard’s final four are “Hombre” (1961), “Swag” (1976), “LaBrava” (1983) and “Killshot” (1989)."
The Benefits of Asperger's Syndrome
The Benefits of Asperger's Syndrome
Norm Ledgin caused a stir with his book, Diagnosing Jefferson. The author claimed that the genius of America's third president was due to Asperger Syndrome, which could explain his 54-year obsession with building and rebuilding Monticello, his inability to control his spending, and his affair with a child/slave. After this book became a best seller, the author wrote Asperger's and Self-Esteem: Insight and Hope through Famous Role Models, which claims that thirteen giants of history - Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, and Mozart among them-also had Asperger Syndrome. Some people also believe that Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charles Darwin, Galileo, Pablo Picasso, Benjamin Franklin, Margaret Mead and Aristotle had Asperger Syndrome.
Ha ha! Take that! Cognitively typical people are the new Eloi!
Norm Ledgin caused a stir with his book, Diagnosing Jefferson. The author claimed that the genius of America's third president was due to Asperger Syndrome, which could explain his 54-year obsession with building and rebuilding Monticello, his inability to control his spending, and his affair with a child/slave. After this book became a best seller, the author wrote Asperger's and Self-Esteem: Insight and Hope through Famous Role Models, which claims that thirteen giants of history - Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, and Mozart among them-also had Asperger Syndrome. Some people also believe that Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charles Darwin, Galileo, Pablo Picasso, Benjamin Franklin, Margaret Mead and Aristotle had Asperger Syndrome.
Lately authors are adding Bill Gates to the list of famous Aspies because of his lack of social skills, inability to make eye contact and tendency to rock back and forth coupled with his obsession with technology. Diane Kennedy, an author and advocate for Asperger Syndrome, writes, "They are our visionaries, scientists, diplomats, inventors, chefs, artists, writers and musicians. They are the original thinkers and a driving force in our culture."
Ha ha! Take that! Cognitively typical people are the new Eloi!
Sunday, June 6
Humanities Gaming Institute
Humanities Gaming Institute: "The University of South Carolina's Center for Digital Humanities is proud to bring you a three-week Humanities Gaming Institute sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities. With the generous help of luminary experts and emerging innovators in game studies and development, our institute will..."
Saturday, June 5
iA � Designing for iPad: Reality Check
iA � Designing for iPad: Reality Check: "Stay tuned
I cannot emphasize enough how radically different the frame set is, that iPad interfaces are embedded in. The iPad brings hands and eyes back together. There is more to say, but for a first impression that was long enough."
I cannot emphasize enough how radically different the frame set is, that iPad interfaces are embedded in. The iPad brings hands and eyes back together. There is more to say, but for a first impression that was long enough."
iA � Designing for iPad: Reality Check
iA � Designing for iPad: Reality Check: "Reality check: Wow, this thing is sharp!
After two months of printing, we did get the typography quite right, but there was another surprise waiting for us: The sharpness. With its high pitched light contrast, iPad is a miracle picture book or photo frame—but designing long text passages for good readability is still a tough matter. If, executed carefully, text on an iPad comes quite close to printed matters, but it needs much care and specific screen typographic know-how.
Web body text sizes (14–16px) feel too small on iPad while bigger sizes clash with the canvas dimensions. This leads to all sorts of grid restrictions."
After two months of printing, we did get the typography quite right, but there was another surprise waiting for us: The sharpness. With its high pitched light contrast, iPad is a miracle picture book or photo frame—but designing long text passages for good readability is still a tough matter. If, executed carefully, text on an iPad comes quite close to printed matters, but it needs much care and specific screen typographic know-how.
Web body text sizes (14–16px) feel too small on iPad while bigger sizes clash with the canvas dimensions. This leads to all sorts of grid restrictions."
Friday, June 4
Thursday, June 3
The King Of The Ferret Leggers: The Classic Tale Of Sportsmen Who Put Carnivores Down Their Pants
The King Of The Ferret Leggers: The Classic Tale Of Sportsmen Who Put Carnivores Down Their Pants: "Reg Mellor, a man who has been more intimate with ferrets than many men have been with their wives, calls ferrets 'cannibals, things that live only to kill, that'll eat your eyes out to get at your brain' at their worst, and 'untrustworthy' at their very best."
Tuesday, June 1
My Father's Library - Forbes.com
My Father's Library - Forbes.com: "A lifetime of written wisdom has gently settled like silt on some distant ocean bed, and somewhere within, the long conversation between man and books continues, though ever quieter. Love disappears, wealth disappears, desire disappears. But good books stay absorbed in the soul, and a soul, if educated, endures."
Spraygraphic Interview with Artist Kate MacDowell | Sprayblog
Spraygraphic Interview with Artist Kate MacDowell | Sprayblog: "SG: Please tell us about yourself?
KM: I used to teach high-school English and later produced hi-tech websites. After the dot-com bust my husband and I moved to India for a year and half and worked at a meditation retreat center. We came back back to the states by way of Italy, and I found myself living in my parent’s house again for a few months, without a job, and with a head full of fantastic tropical plants and animals, and classical and baroque marble sculpture. I started taking a local clay class while we figured out what to do next, and started funneling these images into early pots and sculptures. I’ve been a full-time studio artist since 2006 or so."
KM: I used to teach high-school English and later produced hi-tech websites. After the dot-com bust my husband and I moved to India for a year and half and worked at a meditation retreat center. We came back back to the states by way of Italy, and I found myself living in my parent’s house again for a few months, without a job, and with a head full of fantastic tropical plants and animals, and classical and baroque marble sculpture. I started taking a local clay class while we figured out what to do next, and started funneling these images into early pots and sculptures. I’ve been a full-time studio artist since 2006 or so."
I find this inspiring.
Monday, May 31
Education Stocks Off After Comments From Hedge-Fund Manager - WSJ.com
Education Stocks Off After Comments From Hedge-Fund Manager - WSJ.com: "Eisman, citing high dropout and student-loan default rates at the schools, said 'In a sense, these companies are marketing machines masquerading as universities...
'Until recently, I thought that there would never again be an opportunity to be involved with an industry as socially destructive and morally bankrupt as the subprime mortgage industry. I was wrong. The for-profit education industry has proven equal to the task,' Eisman told the Ira Sohn Research Conference in New York City."
'Until recently, I thought that there would never again be an opportunity to be involved with an industry as socially destructive and morally bankrupt as the subprime mortgage industry. I was wrong. The for-profit education industry has proven equal to the task,' Eisman told the Ira Sohn Research Conference in New York City."
I just finished reading Michael Lewis' The Big Short which prominently features Eisman, and this sounds just like him.
Friday, May 28
What About DMSO?
What About DMSO?: "I have a two-pronged attack that I use to accelerate the healing process of the elbow tendinitis. First, I start ingesting 200 milligrams of the mineral Manganese every 3 hours for 3 days (72 hours). I learned about this mineral megadose trick from the late Vince Gironda, the 'Iron Guru.' Second, I use a special solvent called DMSO. DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide) was discovered around 1866 but didn't get much interest until around a hundred years later when, in 1966, a chemist at the University of Oregon Medical School discovered its potential value."
Heated Argument on Rig Hours Before Blast - WSJ.com
Heated Argument on Rig Hours Before Blast - WSJ.com: "Mr. Harrell hasn't testified and declined repeated requests for comment. Donald Vidrine, listed on Transocean's documents as BP's 'company man' on April 20, couldn't be reached. Mr. Revette was among the 11 workers who were killed.
Mr. Vidrine was supposed to testify Thursday but dropped out, citing an undisclosed medical issue, according to a Coast Guard spokeswoman. Another top BP official who was scheduled to testify Thursday, Robert Kaluza, declined to do so, asserting his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, the Coast Guard spokeswoman said."
Mr. Vidrine was supposed to testify Thursday but dropped out, citing an undisclosed medical issue, according to a Coast Guard spokeswoman. Another top BP official who was scheduled to testify Thursday, Robert Kaluza, declined to do so, asserting his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, the Coast Guard spokeswoman said."
Heated Argument on Rig Hours Before Blast - WSJ.com
Heated Argument on Rig Hours Before Blast - WSJ.com: "Douglas H. Brown, Transocean's chief mechanic on the Deepwater Horizon rig, said key representatives from both companies had a 'skirmish' during an 11 a.m. meeting on April 20. Less than 11 hours later, the well had a blowout, an uncontrolled release of oil and gas, killing 11 workers."
How The U.S. Government Killed The Safest Car Ever Built
How The U.S. Government Killed The Safest Car Ever Built: "Friedman noted that only 13% of Americans were using seat belts in 1980"
Thursday, May 27
45365 :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews
45365 :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews: "Sidney still looks like a town, not a squatter's camp of fast food outlets."
Sex and the City 2 :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews
Sex and the City 2 :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews: "Some of these people make my skin crawl. The characters of 'Sex and the City 2' are flyweight bubbleheads living in a world which rarely requires three sentences in a row."
Mario Capecchi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mario Capecchi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Mario Capecchi was born in the Italian city of Verona in 1937. His father was Luciano Capecchi,[2] an Italian airman who would be later reported as missing in action while manning an anti-aircraft gun in the Western Desert Campaign,[3] His mother was Lucy Ramberg, an American-born[4] daughter of Impressionist painter Lucy Dodd Ramberg and German archaeologist Walter Ramberg. During World War II, his mother was sent to the Dachau concentration camp[4][5] as punishment for pamphleteering and belonging to an anti-Fascist group.[6] Prior to her arrest[2] she had made contingency plans by selling her belongings and giving the proceeds to a peasant family near Bolzano[3] to provide housing for her son. However, after one year,[7] the money was exhausted and the family was unable to care for him. At four-and-a-half years old he was left to fend for himself on the streets of northern Italy for the next four years,[3] living in various orphanages and roving through towns with groups of other homeless children.[7]
He almost died of malnutrition. His mother, meanwhile, had been freed from Dachau and began a year-long search for him. She finally found him in a hospital bed in Reggio Emilia,[3] ill with a fever and subsisting on a daily bowl of chicory coffee and bread crust. She took him to Rome, where he had his first bath in six years.[7]"
He almost died of malnutrition. His mother, meanwhile, had been freed from Dachau and began a year-long search for him. She finally found him in a hospital bed in Reggio Emilia,[3] ill with a fever and subsisting on a daily bowl of chicory coffee and bread crust. She took him to Rome, where he had his first bath in six years.[7]"
Special Issue of Computers and Composition on the Future of the Web (7/1/10) | cfp.english.upenn.edu
Special Issue of Computers and Composition on the Future of the Web (7/1/10) | cfp.english.upenn.edu: "1. In what ways will enhancements in portability or mobility change how students receive information and compose with computer technologies and what, if anything, should composition teachers do to accommodate or recognize such changes in reading and writing?
2. In what ways will the increasing individualization and customization of the Web, such as virtual worlds and personalized avatars, impact the teaching and learning of writing?
3. In what ways will improvements in global access to the Web change the nature of composing with computers?"
2. In what ways will the increasing individualization and customization of the Web, such as virtual worlds and personalized avatars, impact the teaching and learning of writing?
3. In what ways will improvements in global access to the Web change the nature of composing with computers?"
Mark Frauenfelder's Made by Hand.
I've been interested in DIY culture for most of my life and love Make magazine as well as the O'Reilly "Hacks" series. Like the author, I think I inherited these tendencies from my father, while growing up in California. I have a brother whose own experience has closely paralleled that of the author.
Mark Frauenfelder's "Made by Hand" gives his readers permission to make mistakes while exploring the world of DIY (Do It Yourself, as opposed to HAP, or Hire a Pro) culture. A resident of Tarzana then Studio City, both suburbs of Los Angeles, he would seem like an unlikely choice for urban hillbilly. Frauenfelder's claims to fame include starting the popular blog "Boing Boing." and appearing in the first Errol Morris Apple commercial.
This is one of those recently popularized "experience" books, in which the author sets out to try something different, like living strictly according to the Old Testament or eating nothing but cheese for a year. Frauenfelder begins the book by describing a desire to escape urban malaise by moving to Raratonga, and quickly discovers the difference between being a tourist and a resident of a community. From that experience he discovered that his favorite part of the journey was "coconut day," when he would extract coconut meat with his daughters and cook it into scones or other goodies.
Upon his return to what passes for "civilization," Frauenfelder embarks on a 1.5 year program to emulate coconut day by slowing his life down through a series of DIY projects, including killing his front lawn, growing his own food, modding his high-end espresso machine, raising chickens, fermenting Kombucha, yogurt and sauerkraut, making musical instruments, raising bees and ultimately learning how to learn. Oh, and carving wooden spoons. I didn't think I could ever care about carving hardwood spoons, but by the end of the chapter I was ready to give it a shot.
The book is an extended invitation to become a physical hacker in the best sense (it saddens me that this term has been coopted by the press to mean "malicious computer intruder.") The preferred term is now "maker," which has more positive connotations but reminds me a little of Orson Scott Card's magical realism set in the nineteenth century. Accomplished tinkerers and hackers may not find anything new in here, as his descriptions of each adventure are more like extended blog entries that point to additional resources and provide profiles of some fascinating Makers, including William Gurstelle, author of "Backyard Ballistics" and other invitations to enjoyable danger, Forrest Mims, the author of the popular Radio Shack eletronics manuals, and the secretive Mr. Jalopy, car hacker extraordinaire. Each DIY luminary provides insights that slowly accrete, leaving us with a useful philosophy of Making stuff by the time we are done.
Frauenfelder ruminates on how consumer culture has infantilized us in order to sell us toilet paper and diapers. As an antidote, he provides examples of how to carve out time to engage in these projects (by abandoning television and working in small bursts, sometimes 20 minutes a day. I was disappointed to read that he had temporarily forsaken painting and drawing).
The best parts of the book for me were Frauenfelder's accounts of his own frequent mistakes. Often DIY texts are written by intimidating mechanical geniuses. Frauenfelder, on the other hand, messes up all the time while his wife, Carla, looks on disapprovingly. Sometimes the mistakes just don't matter, and sometimes they serve as a precursor to something serendipitously better, like a black widow-free yard (thanks to the chickens), amplified cigar box guitars or a PID-enhanced espresso machine.
The message of the book is that mistakes are part of learning, and that if you're not making mistakes then you've payed someone else to make them for you, and deprived yourself of something important in the process. Made by Hand is a good introduction to the DIY scene and will probably inspire you to try something yourself. If you are looking for detailed instructions for various projects, you're probably better off with back issues of Make magazine or contacting some of the fascinating people he profiles in this book, but if you're looking for inspiration, this is a good first stop on the road to Maker enlightenment.
An earlier reviewer complains that many of Mark's adventures are enabled by a healthy disposable income. Although at times I cringed at his willingness to buy solutions online (a $24.95 wood gouge, etc.) more often than not the author points out how he could have saved money by using an alternative, and provides plenty of examples of scrounging through wood piles and parts bins for cheap solutions. I also enjoyed the pop philosophy in the book, and didn't think that Mark was trying to elevate hobbies to the level of religion. It's unfortunate that, in our highly fragmented and specialized post-fordist world we even have to justify a foray into experimentation and eclecticism, but I found the theorizing enjoyable and useful, especially the sections on the origins of advertising, learning and unschooling.
This book is not so much about the specifics of each project as it is about giving you the permission and attitudes to be a Maker, especially if you're new to hacking your world.
I've been interested in DIY culture for most of my life and love Make magazine as well as the O'Reilly "Hacks" series. Like the author, I think I inherited these tendencies from my father, while growing up in California. I have a brother whose own experience has closely paralleled that of the author.
Mark Frauenfelder's "Made by Hand" gives his readers permission to make mistakes while exploring the world of DIY (Do It Yourself, as opposed to HAP, or Hire a Pro) culture. A resident of Tarzana then Studio City, both suburbs of Los Angeles, he would seem like an unlikely choice for urban hillbilly. Frauenfelder's claims to fame include starting the popular blog "Boing Boing." and appearing in the first Errol Morris Apple commercial.
This is one of those recently popularized "experience" books, in which the author sets out to try something different, like living strictly according to the Old Testament or eating nothing but cheese for a year. Frauenfelder begins the book by describing a desire to escape urban malaise by moving to Raratonga, and quickly discovers the difference between being a tourist and a resident of a community. From that experience he discovered that his favorite part of the journey was "coconut day," when he would extract coconut meat with his daughters and cook it into scones or other goodies.
Upon his return to what passes for "civilization," Frauenfelder embarks on a 1.5 year program to emulate coconut day by slowing his life down through a series of DIY projects, including killing his front lawn, growing his own food, modding his high-end espresso machine, raising chickens, fermenting Kombucha, yogurt and sauerkraut, making musical instruments, raising bees and ultimately learning how to learn. Oh, and carving wooden spoons. I didn't think I could ever care about carving hardwood spoons, but by the end of the chapter I was ready to give it a shot.
The book is an extended invitation to become a physical hacker in the best sense (it saddens me that this term has been coopted by the press to mean "malicious computer intruder.") The preferred term is now "maker," which has more positive connotations but reminds me a little of Orson Scott Card's magical realism set in the nineteenth century. Accomplished tinkerers and hackers may not find anything new in here, as his descriptions of each adventure are more like extended blog entries that point to additional resources and provide profiles of some fascinating Makers, including William Gurstelle, author of "Backyard Ballistics" and other invitations to enjoyable danger, Forrest Mims, the author of the popular Radio Shack eletronics manuals, and the secretive Mr. Jalopy, car hacker extraordinaire. Each DIY luminary provides insights that slowly accrete, leaving us with a useful philosophy of Making stuff by the time we are done.
Frauenfelder ruminates on how consumer culture has infantilized us in order to sell us toilet paper and diapers. As an antidote, he provides examples of how to carve out time to engage in these projects (by abandoning television and working in small bursts, sometimes 20 minutes a day. I was disappointed to read that he had temporarily forsaken painting and drawing).
The best parts of the book for me were Frauenfelder's accounts of his own frequent mistakes. Often DIY texts are written by intimidating mechanical geniuses. Frauenfelder, on the other hand, messes up all the time while his wife, Carla, looks on disapprovingly. Sometimes the mistakes just don't matter, and sometimes they serve as a precursor to something serendipitously better, like a black widow-free yard (thanks to the chickens), amplified cigar box guitars or a PID-enhanced espresso machine.
The message of the book is that mistakes are part of learning, and that if you're not making mistakes then you've payed someone else to make them for you, and deprived yourself of something important in the process. Made by Hand is a good introduction to the DIY scene and will probably inspire you to try something yourself. If you are looking for detailed instructions for various projects, you're probably better off with back issues of Make magazine or contacting some of the fascinating people he profiles in this book, but if you're looking for inspiration, this is a good first stop on the road to Maker enlightenment.
An earlier reviewer complains that many of Mark's adventures are enabled by a healthy disposable income. Although at times I cringed at his willingness to buy solutions online (a $24.95 wood gouge, etc.) more often than not the author points out how he could have saved money by using an alternative, and provides plenty of examples of scrounging through wood piles and parts bins for cheap solutions. I also enjoyed the pop philosophy in the book, and didn't think that Mark was trying to elevate hobbies to the level of religion. It's unfortunate that, in our highly fragmented and specialized post-fordist world we even have to justify a foray into experimentation and eclecticism, but I found the theorizing enjoyable and useful, especially the sections on the origins of advertising, learning and unschooling.
This book is not so much about the specifics of each project as it is about giving you the permission and attitudes to be a Maker, especially if you're new to hacking your world.
Gartner's Interview with Thad Starner
Gartner's Interview with Thad Starner: "My interest in wearable computing was purely self-motivated. I was going to MIT as an undergraduate and spending – I guess back then it was only $20,000 a year, and now it's much more – quite a lot of money on my education … and I was discovering that I wasn't remembering any of it.
Either I could pay attention in class to what the lecturer was saying and get some intuition about what was going on, or I could spend all my effort on writing notes. But I could not do both. So if I spent time paying attention to the lecturer, I would remember it for about two hours and feel like I actually understood the material. But after two hours, I couldn't remember a thing. If I spent time writing it down, I got no intuition. I got the material down off the whiteboard, but it meant nothing to me. And my handwriting was so bad that I even lost that after two weeks. I couldn't read my own notes."
Either I could pay attention in class to what the lecturer was saying and get some intuition about what was going on, or I could spend all my effort on writing notes. But I could not do both. So if I spent time paying attention to the lecturer, I would remember it for about two hours and feel like I actually understood the material. But after two hours, I couldn't remember a thing. If I spent time writing it down, I got no intuition. I got the material down off the whiteboard, but it meant nothing to me. And my handwriting was so bad that I even lost that after two weeks. I couldn't read my own notes."
What tipped off the credit card company for fraud? | Ask MetaFilter
What tipped off the credit card company for fraud? | Ask MetaFilter: "So here's a TLDR answer to your question:
When you use that card you're being watched. Sometimes by a person, but most often by computers that analyze and store every purchase you make. Even if you don't know it you have a data trail, and that data trail has a signature to it. When something breaks that signature, and is surrounded by other suspicious details, it either get automatically handled by a computer, and will eventually be handled by a human. The testing charge was suspicious, but maybe by itself wouldn't have mattered. Followed by tools (easy to fence, so a pretty common flag charge) it's no question. Especially if it looked at your account and couldn't find strong previous history with either. So your account gets sent to a high priority queue, and some underpaid dude on the eastern seaboard looks at it, tags it as fraud, and calls you to confirm, maybe helping him make an extra 200 bones at the end of the month."
When you use that card you're being watched. Sometimes by a person, but most often by computers that analyze and store every purchase you make. Even if you don't know it you have a data trail, and that data trail has a signature to it. When something breaks that signature, and is surrounded by other suspicious details, it either get automatically handled by a computer, and will eventually be handled by a human. The testing charge was suspicious, but maybe by itself wouldn't have mattered. Followed by tools (easy to fence, so a pretty common flag charge) it's no question. Especially if it looked at your account and couldn't find strong previous history with either. So your account gets sent to a high priority queue, and some underpaid dude on the eastern seaboard looks at it, tags it as fraud, and calls you to confirm, maybe helping him make an extra 200 bones at the end of the month."
Romanticism And The Materiality Of Nature - Research and Read Books, Journals, Articles at Questia Online Library
Romanticism And The Materiality Of Nature - Research and Read Books, Journals, Articles at Questia Online Library: "In Romanticism and the Materiality of Nature, Onno Oerlemans embarks upon an ambitious project to re-situate Romantic poetry in the hard, physical reality of the material world. This study endeavors to place several of the Romantic poets, especially Wordsworth and Shelley, within the larger intellectual and material contexts of their period, attending not only to the social and cultural currents that shape poetic discourse, but also to the concrete physical substrate of poetic production: the very 'rocks, and stones, and trees' that form the literal and irreducible subject-matter of poetry (40)."
PickensPlan: China
PickensPlan: China: "Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, China is aggressively seeking to secure oil resources for its growing economy. With their once lucrative oil contracts voided by the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, the Chinese have used lower oil prices during this global recession to embark on a resource grab of epic proportions. Maximizing the collective strength of China's banking institutions and the diplomatic resources of the Chinese government, China's state owned oil companies are positioning themselves to control a substantial amount of the oil produced in Africa, Asia and South America."
Wednesday, May 26
I just watched the last ten minutes again and now I want to watch it all the way through from the beginning. But that's 90 hours of my life, which, if I spent practicing a musical instrument or learning a language or flossing, would pay big benefits. But, to be honest, I'm not going to practice the guitar for 90 hours or I would have done it at some point over the last 25 years or so.
The Secret Cost of Using Facebook - Newsweek.com
The Secret Cost of Using Facebook - Newsweek.com: "Losing a few people won't hurt Facebook, which has more than 400 million registered members, most of them oblivious to the debate over privacy. In fact, I suspect Facebook will end up being to this decade what Microsoft was to the 1990s—an ever-more-powerful company with tentacles that reach into everything. I also suspect that whatever Facebook has done so far to invade our privacy, it's only the beginning. Which is why I'm considering deactivating my account. Facebook is a handy site, but I'm freaked by the idea that my information is in the hands of people I don't trust. That is too high a price to pay."
Sayonara, iPhone: Why I'm Switching to Android - Techtonic Shifts Blog - Newsweek.com
Sayonara, iPhone: Why I'm Switching to Android - Techtonic Shifts Blog - Newsweek.com: "Steve Jobs has created his own precious little walled garden. He's looking more and more like Howard Hughes, holed up in his penthouse, making sure he doesn't come in contact with any germs.
Now Google is saying, hey, nice garden, have fun sitting in it. By yourself.
As Google exec Vic Gundotra said when explaining why Google entered this market: 'If we did not act, we faced a draconian future where one man, one company, one carrier would be our future.'"
Now Google is saying, hey, nice garden, have fun sitting in it. By yourself.
As Google exec Vic Gundotra said when explaining why Google entered this market: 'If we did not act, we faced a draconian future where one man, one company, one carrier would be our future.'"
Sayonara, iPhone: Why I'm Switching to Android - Techtonic Shifts Blog - Newsweek.com
Sayonara, iPhone: Why I'm Switching to Android - Techtonic Shifts Blog - Newsweek.com: "The Android OS is already outselling iPhone OS in the United States. Now it's blowing past Apple in terms of the technology it's� delivering."
Tuesday, May 25
'Lost' finale recap, part one: And In The End... | TV Recap | EW.com
'Lost' finale recap, part one: And In The End... | TV Recap | EW.com: "It's funny that so many people cynically bitch about Lost not having ''a master plan'' — the Lost story is all about the folly of ''master plans.'' Anyone who has ever had a master plan on this show has failed catastrophically. Mother. Jacob. The Man In Black. Ben. Charles Widmore. Jack. Sawyer. The best we can do is live our lives with enlightened improvisation — to be so self-aware and fearless that we can live fully in the present and redeem our every moment and every human connection. Last night, Sawyer asked Jack if becoming island guardian made him feel any different. Jack thought about it and laughed and said, ''No. Not really.'' He was right. Jack was still every bit the fixer junkie he used to be before he took holy communion from Jacob. But as he moved into the final conflict of his life, Jack was able to apply the best parts of him to the crisis at hand, and minimize the influence of his worst parts. Which isn't to say he couldn't make mistakes — and didn't have more to learn. If there was something he had gained, it was this: grace for his own uniquely imperfect mess."
Biofunk - The Work of Kathleen Hayles | Scribd
Biofunk - The Work of Kathleen Hayles | Scribd: "She shows how the tradition of liberal humanism -- which creates subjectivity
based on the idea that you own your own body -- has gradually given way to a
model based on the human's role as information processor. She dubs this
emerging paradigm the 'computational universe.'
In the computational universe, the machine becomes the primary metaphor for
understanding the human. Hayles writes, 'The great cosmos itself is seen as a vast
computer and ... we are the programs it runs.' She points out that this hypothesis,
though often speculative and highly contested, even within scientific discourses,
has gathered enough cultural momentum to become a common vision of our
shared future."
based on the idea that you own your own body -- has gradually given way to a
model based on the human's role as information processor. She dubs this
emerging paradigm the 'computational universe.'
In the computational universe, the machine becomes the primary metaphor for
understanding the human. Hayles writes, 'The great cosmos itself is seen as a vast
computer and ... we are the programs it runs.' She points out that this hypothesis,
though often speculative and highly contested, even within scientific discourses,
has gathered enough cultural momentum to become a common vision of our
shared future."
Online Etymology Dictionary
Online Etymology Dictionary: "happy
mid-14c., 'lucky,' from hap 'chance, fortune;' sense of 'very glad' first recorded late 14c. Ousted O.E. eadig (from ead 'wealth, riches') and ges�lig, which has become silly. O.E. bli�e 'happy' survives as blithe. From Greek to Irish, a great majority of the European words for 'happy' at first meant 'lucky.' An exception is Welsh, where the word used first meant 'wise.' Used in World War II and after as a suffix (e.g. bomb-happy, flak-happy) expressing 'dazed or frazzled from stress.' Happy medium is from 1778. Happy as a clam (1630s) was originally happy as a clam in the mud at high tide, when it can't be dug up and eaten. Related: Happier; happiest."
mid-14c., 'lucky,' from hap 'chance, fortune;' sense of 'very glad' first recorded late 14c. Ousted O.E. eadig (from ead 'wealth, riches') and ges�lig, which has become silly. O.E. bli�e 'happy' survives as blithe. From Greek to Irish, a great majority of the European words for 'happy' at first meant 'lucky.' An exception is Welsh, where the word used first meant 'wise.' Used in World War II and after as a suffix (e.g. bomb-happy, flak-happy) expressing 'dazed or frazzled from stress.' Happy medium is from 1778. Happy as a clam (1630s) was originally happy as a clam in the mud at high tide, when it can't be dug up and eaten. Related: Happier; happiest."
Monday, May 24
Abraham Lincoln's Annual Message to Congress -- Concluding Remarks
Abraham Lincoln's Annual Message to Congress -- Concluding Remarks: "The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise -- with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country."
Sunday, May 23
‘Lost’ Watch: Embracing the White Light - ArtsBeat Blog - NYTimes.com
‘Lost’ Watch: Embracing the White Light - ArtsBeat Blog - NYTimes.com: "Well, it was better than the “Life on Mars” finale.
But you have to think that the gauzy, vaguely religious, more than a little mawkish ending of ‘Lost’ – “Touched by a Desmond” — will not sit well with a lot of the show’s fans. Many of them will have thought that things were going pretty well for the first two and a quarter hours of the final episode, as the producers treated them to a series of montaged moments in the sideways reality world, in which the main characters regained their memories of the island. But then came the ending, in which most of the main cast members gathered at a church for the big reveal:"
But you have to think that the gauzy, vaguely religious, more than a little mawkish ending of ‘Lost’ – “Touched by a Desmond” — will not sit well with a lot of the show’s fans. Many of them will have thought that things were going pretty well for the first two and a quarter hours of the final episode, as the producers treated them to a series of montaged moments in the sideways reality world, in which the main characters regained their memories of the island. But then came the ending, in which most of the main cast members gathered at a church for the big reveal:"
Thursday, May 20
Men in black are the white knights of the night
Men in black are the white knights of the night: "The men tripped the 27-year-old student, kicking him as he lay on the ground and grabbing his mobile phone and iPod.
What the assailants did not realise was that they were standing outside Ninja Senshi Ryu - western Sydney's ninja warrior school.
They also failed to notice a ninja, Nathan Smith, standing in the shadows outside the dojo. Mr Smith immediately alerted his sensei, or teacher."
What the assailants did not realise was that they were standing outside Ninja Senshi Ryu - western Sydney's ninja warrior school.
They also failed to notice a ninja, Nathan Smith, standing in the shadows outside the dojo. Mr Smith immediately alerted his sensei, or teacher."
digital digs: exposure and facebook as public utility
digital digs: exposure and facebook as public utility: "Your gut reaction might be to tell me that Facebook is not a utility. You’re wrong. People’s language reflects that people are depending on Facebook just like they depended on the Internet a decade ago. Facebook may not be at the scale of the Internet (or the Internet at the scale of electricity), but that doesn’t mean that it’s not angling to be a utility or quickly becoming one."
WRIT 1122: "So close to a perfect record
March 2nd, 2010 | Author: richard.colby
Shelby Trueax from the 2pm section brutally usurped the noon section’s dominance by writing the best assignment #4 �with her paper “Recycle Bicycle.” �The noon section came back strong on assignment #5 with Mali Darr’s “Self-RULE,” returning honor to her section. �That’s 4 points for noon, 1 point for 2pm, 0 points for 4pm. �Is the 4pm section the dark horse to win for assignment #6, or will noon and 2pm reign supreme?
Posted in Blog | No Comments �"
March 2nd, 2010 | Author: richard.colby
Shelby Trueax from the 2pm section brutally usurped the noon section’s dominance by writing the best assignment #4 �with her paper “Recycle Bicycle.” �The noon section came back strong on assignment #5 with Mali Darr’s “Self-RULE,” returning honor to her section. �That’s 4 points for noon, 1 point for 2pm, 0 points for 4pm. �Is the 4pm section the dark horse to win for assignment #6, or will noon and 2pm reign supreme?
Posted in Blog | No Comments �"
Wednesday, May 19
Games for Change (G4C) -- home
Games for Change (G4C) -- home: "Games for Change (G4C) is a non-profit which seeks to harness the extraordinary power of video games to address the most pressing issues of our day, including poverty, education, human rights, global conflict and climate change. G4C acts as a voice for the transformative power of games, bringing together organizations and individuals from the nonprofit sector, government, journalism, academia, industry and the arts, to grow the sector and provide a platform for the exchange of ideas and resources. Through this work, Games for Change promotes new kinds of games that engage contemporary social issues in meaningful ways to foster a more just, equitable and tolerant society."
Tuesday, May 18
A volcano of oil erupting
A volcano of oil erupting: "What we are seeing now could be small compared to what may yet unfold if things break apart, as they can do under such circumstances.� If this thing blew, it could be like the Yellowstone Caldera, except from below a mile of sea, with a 1/4-mile opening, with up to 150,000 psi of oil and natural gas behind it.
That would be an extinction event."
That would be an extinction event."
Monday, May 17
Why We Are Obsessed With the iPad | Gadget Lab | Wired.com
Why We Are Obsessed With the iPad | Gadget Lab | Wired.com: "It’s a subtle difference and, rationally speaking, it is irrelevant to the content that appears beneath the glass face of the LCD. You get exactly the same words and pictures (but not, of course, any Flash video or animations.) But it’s a profoundly different feeling for the human on this side of the glass. It makes the content feel more immediate, more real and more “in the world.”
Over time, that’s going to make profound changes to THE way web designers create and deploy their sites, to the way we think about “online content,” and to the way we think about computers."
Over time, that’s going to make profound changes to THE way web designers create and deploy their sites, to the way we think about “online content,” and to the way we think about computers."
Report: iPad May Be Cannibalizing iPods, Not Macs | Gadget Lab | Wired.com
Report: iPad May Be Cannibalizing iPods, Not Macs | Gadget Lab | Wired.com: "Apple’s hot-selling iPad poses no threat to its Macintosh computers, but it’s already chomping into iPod sales, a research report suggests.
NPD Group on Monday afternoon released figures revealing a 17-percent year-to-year decrease for April iPod sales. Meanwhile, Mac computers are seeing healthy growth, increasing 39 percent compared to last April."
NPD Group on Monday afternoon released figures revealing a 17-percent year-to-year decrease for April iPod sales. Meanwhile, Mac computers are seeing healthy growth, increasing 39 percent compared to last April."
Reconstructing Technoliteracy: a multiple literacies approach - E-Learning and Digital Media Volume 2 Number 3 (2005): "Much has been written that describes the history of the concept of 'technological literacy' and, more recently, a literature attempting to chart emancipatory technoliteracies has emerged over the last decade. Our article begins with a brief examination of the meanings that 'technology' and 'literacy' have received towards achieving insight into what sort of knowledge and skills 'technoliteracy' hails. We then summarize the broad trajectories of development in hegemonic programs of contemporary technoliteracy from their arguable origins as 'computer literacy' in the A Nation at Risk report of 1983 up to the present call for integration of technology across the curriculum and the standards-based approach of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and 2004's US National Educational Technology Plan. In contradistinction, we reveal how this approach has been tacitly challenged at the global institutional level through the United Nations' Project 2000 , and theorize how this might link up with a democratic project of re-visioning education though multiple literacies. Finally, in closing, we think about what it will mean to reconstruct 'technoliteracy' broadly in this manner and conclude with a call for new critical pedagogies that can inform and be informed by the counterhegemonic idea of 'multiple technoliteracies'."
Atty: Video Shows Police Fired Into Detroit Home - ABC News
Atty: Video Shows Police Fired Into Detroit Home - ABC News: "Geoffrey Fieger (FI-ger) said Monday that footage shot by the A&E crime-reality show 'The First 48' shows that police fired into the home at least once after lobbing a flash grenade through a window."
Girl who came to U.S. illegally can't get loans - San Bernardino County Sun
Girl who came to U.S. illegally can't get loans - San Bernardino County Sun: "'California has already dumped $100,000 in free education (on her),' said Robert Rector, a senior research fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. 'If you want to be tough about it, you can ask for it to be repaid.'"
That's assuming, of course, that she won't make any future contributions to her community. The Heritage Foundation. I just want to hit them all in the face, if only in response to the sheer smugness of everything they ever say.
That's assuming, of course, that she won't make any future contributions to her community. The Heritage Foundation. I just want to hit them all in the face, if only in response to the sheer smugness of everything they ever say.
Emails, Computers Causing Literacy Problems For Workers
Emails, Computers Causing Literacy Problems For Workers: "The report found that the use of email or web-based communication had uncovered another layer of illiteracy, 'employees who have a reasonable level of literacy skill but are unable to complete some workplace tasks to the standard required.'
'This included tasks like using appropriate email language in communications between employees and external customers.
'Some employers reported that employees with high-level technical skills, such as engineers, were poor communicators within workplace settings.'
One-in-four businesses indicated they had concerns about the literacy and numeracy of apprentices and technicians that they were employing."
'This included tasks like using appropriate email language in communications between employees and external customers.
'Some employers reported that employees with high-level technical skills, such as engineers, were poor communicators within workplace settings.'
One-in-four businesses indicated they had concerns about the literacy and numeracy of apprentices and technicians that they were employing."
Werner Herzog, speaking at the British Film... | Old Hollywood
Werner Herzog, speaking at the British Film... | Old Hollywood: "[On the set of Fitzcarraldo], a lumberman was bitten by a snake while cutting a tree. This was the most dangerous snake of all. It only takes a few minutes before cardiac arrest occurs. He dropped the saw and thought about it for five seconds and then he grabbed his saw again and cut off his foot. It saved his life, because the camp and serum was 20 minutes away. When that happened, I knew Kinski would start raving with some trifling excuse, because now he was just a marginal figure."
Sunday, May 16
Study Hacks � Blog Archive � The Steve Martin Method: A Master Comedian's Advice for Becoming Famous
Study Hacks � Blog Archive � The Steve Martin Method: A Master Comedian's Advice for Becoming Famous: "It can be hard to ruthlessly whittle down your ambitions to a needle-thin point. But Martin is clear on this point: if you don’t saturate your life in a single quest, you’ll dilute your focus to a point where becoming outstanding becomes out of reach."
Well, These New Zuckerberg IMs Won't Help Facebook's Privacy Problems
A chat transcript that someone saved from Mark Zuckerberg and the early days of Facebook at Harvard.
Well, These New Zuckerberg IMs Won't Help Facebook's Privacy Problems: "Zuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard
Zuck: Just ask.
Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS
[Redacted Friend's Name]: What? How'd you manage that one?
Zuck: People just submitted it.
Zuck: I don't know why.
Zuck: They 'trust me'
Zuck: Dumb ***.
Brutal."
Well, These New Zuckerberg IMs Won't Help Facebook's Privacy Problems: "Zuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard
Zuck: Just ask.
Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS
[Redacted Friend's Name]: What? How'd you manage that one?
Zuck: People just submitted it.
Zuck: I don't know why.
Zuck: They 'trust me'
Zuck: Dumb ***.
Brutal."
Saturday, May 15
Well, These New Zuckerberg IMs Won't Help Facebook's Privacy Problems
Well, These New Zuckerberg IMs Won't Help Facebook's Privacy Problems: "Zuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard
Zuck: Just ask.
Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS
[Redacted Friend's Name]: What? How'd you manage that one?
Zuck: People just submitted it.
Zuck: I don't know why.
Zuck: They 'trust me'
Zuck: Dumb ***.
Brutal."
Zuck: Just ask.
Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS
[Redacted Friend's Name]: What? How'd you manage that one?
Zuck: People just submitted it.
Zuck: I don't know why.
Zuck: They 'trust me'
Zuck: Dumb ***.
Brutal."
Wednesday, May 12
About New York - Creating a Network Like Facebook, Only Private - NYTimes.com
About New York - Creating a Network Like Facebook, Only Private - NYTimes.com: "A teacher and digital media researcher at N.Y.U., Finn Brunton, said that their project — which does not involve giant rounds of venture capital financing before anyone writes a line of code — reflected “a return of the classic geek means of production: pizza and ramen and guys sleeping under the desks because it is something that it is really exciting and challenging.”
And the demand for a social network that gives users control is strong, Mr. Brunton said. “Everyone I talk to about this says, ‘Oh my God, I’ve been waiting for someone to do something like that.’�”"
And the demand for a social network that gives users control is strong, Mr. Brunton said. “Everyone I talk to about this says, ‘Oh my God, I’ve been waiting for someone to do something like that.’�”"
iAnnotate PDF for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store
iAnnotate PDF for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store: "I am a scientist, and I read and review dozens of journal articles each year - I love that I now am carrying my entire library of journals everywhere on the iPad in iAnnotate. iAnnotate is currently the only app that allows me to markup, comment, and highlight (along with copy/paste) PDF files, and it does those things quite well. The UI is a tad unintuitive, but there are hints that pop up the first time you use each tool. The mechanism for uploading files to the iPad is a bit cumbersome, but I expect that better syncing will be coming along shortly now that the iPad is on the street."
The Heart Scan Blog
The Heart Scan Blog: "2) Choose and prepare foods with lower AGE content. Food content of AGEs is a major determinant of blood AGE levels. Fats and meats are the primary dietary source of AGEs, particularly if cooked at high temperature (broiling, frying). While this does not mean that meats and fats need to be avoided, it can mean that limiting serving size of meats and fats, while being selective in how they are prepared, are important. This can mean cutting your meats in thinner slices or smaller pieces to permit faster cooking, eating rare when possible (not poultry, of course), avoiding cooking with sauces that contain sugar (which enhances AGE formation). Is this an argument in favor of sashimi?
Minimizing exposure to AGEs, endogenous or exogenous, has the potential to slow the aging process, or at least to lessen the likelihood of many of the phenomena of aging."
Minimizing exposure to AGEs, endogenous or exogenous, has the potential to slow the aging process, or at least to lessen the likelihood of many of the phenomena of aging."
High on Fidelity � American Scientist
High on Fidelity -- American Scientist: "Almost a decade ago, Thomas Insel, Director of the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience at Emory University, and colleagues at the National Institute of Mental Health and the University of Maryland implicated vasopressin and oxytocin in controlling the preference for particular partners in both male and female prairie voles. These investigators found that giving a male vasopressin causes it to stay with its mate, whereas blocking this hormone prevents a pair-bond from forming. The scientists saw similar effects in female prairie voles, with oxytocin determining the extent of pair-bonding. In contrast, the administration of these substances had no influence on social interactions in the promiscuous montane voles. Surprisingly, vasopressin and oxytocin are naturally found at similar levels in both prairie and montane voles."
Tuesday, May 11
The iPad, the Kindle, and the future of books : The New Yorker
The iPad, the Kindle, and the future of books : The New Yorker: "David Rosenthal, the publisher of Simon & Schuster, says that his company is racing “to embed audio and video and other value-added features in e-books. It could be an author discussing his book, or a clip from a movie that touches on the book’s topic.” The other major publishers are working on similar projects, experimenting with music, video from news clips, and animation. Publishers hope that consumers will be willing to pay more for the added features. The iPad, Rosenthal says, “has opened up the possibility that we are no longer dealing with a static book. You have tremendous possibilities.”"
So glad that the book industry is just now discovering standalone multimedia, something Voyager was putting out twenty years ago.
So glad that the book industry is just now discovering standalone multimedia, something Voyager was putting out twenty years ago.
Bowie Golden Years : Playboy September 1976
Bowie Golden Years : Playboy September 1976: "Bowie ate his words of farewell even more spectacularly. Last November, he arranged an interview by satellite from his Los Angeles home with England's most popular talk-show host Russel Harty to explain that he had a new album of double-fisted rock and roll, 'Station To Station.' What's more, Bowie rambled on, he would soon embarking on a six-month worldwide concert blitz. The government of Spain, meanwhile, demanded emergency use of the satellite to tell the world that Generalissimo Franco had died, Bowie, always the bad boy, refused to give it up."
Monday, May 10
The iPad, the Kindle, and the future of books : The New Yorker
The iPad, the Kindle, and the future of books : The New Yorker: "Traditionally, publishers have sold books to stores, with the wholesale price for hardcovers set at fifty per cent of the cover price. Authors are paid royalties at a rate of about fifteen per cent of the cover price. A simplified version of a publisher’s costs might run as follows. On a new, twenty-six-dollar hardcover, the publisher typically receives thirteen dollars. Authors are paid royalties at a rate of about fifteen per cent of the cover price; this accounts for $3.90. Perhaps $1.80 goes to the costs of paper, printing, and binding, a dollar to marketing, and $1.70 to distribution. The remaining $4.60 must pay for rent, editors, a sales force, and any write-offs of unearned author advances. Bookstores return about thirty-five per cent of the hardcovers they buy, and publishers write off the cost of producing those books. Profit margins are slim .*"
Sunday, May 9
The Life of Game: Why I Live In Japan - tim rogers - Kotaku
The Life of Game: Why I Live In Japan - tim rogers - Kotaku: "Maybe the far-future Nintendo Vitality Sensor will keep a running tally of exactly how many brain cells you have left. Maybe, at the end of the day, all of us die by sneezing.
Upstairs, later, Bob was taking a break from genius game development to look at his Facebook. He'd just added some people he used to know a long time ago. 'This is making me sad,' he said. 'Why?' 'Because I know I'm not going to see these people again for a long, long time.' Later, in the bathtub on this surprisingly frigid, gray, rainy Sunday morning in April, I thought about pretty much the exact opposite thing."
Upstairs, later, Bob was taking a break from genius game development to look at his Facebook. He'd just added some people he used to know a long time ago. 'This is making me sad,' he said. 'Why?' 'Because I know I'm not going to see these people again for a long, long time.' Later, in the bathtub on this surprisingly frigid, gray, rainy Sunday morning in April, I thought about pretty much the exact opposite thing."
Friday, May 7
Nick Yee:
Abstract An empirical model of player motivations in online games provides the foundation to
understanding and assessing how players differ from one another and how motivations of play relate to age, gender, usage patterns and in-game behaviors. In the current study, a factor analytic approach was used to create an empirical model of player motivations. The analysis revealed 10 motivation subcomponents that grouped into 3 overarching components (Achievement, Social, and Immersion). Relationships between motivations and demographic variables (age, gender, and usage patterns) are also presented.
Abstract An empirical model of player motivations in online games provides the foundation to
understanding and assessing how players differ from one another and how motivations of play relate to age, gender, usage patterns and in-game behaviors. In the current study, a factor analytic approach was used to create an empirical model of player motivations. The analysis revealed 10 motivation subcomponents that grouped into 3 overarching components (Achievement, Social, and Immersion). Relationships between motivations and demographic variables (age, gender, and usage patterns) are also presented.
Richard A. Bartle: Players Who Suit MUDs: "Four approaches to playing MUDs are identified and described. These approaches may arise from the inter-relationship of two dimensions of playing style: action versus interaction, and world-oriented versus player-oriented. An account of the dynamics of player populations is given in terms of these dimensions, with particular attention to how to promote balance or equilibrium. This analysis also offers an explanation for the labelling of MUDs as being either 'social' or 'gamelike'."
Gamasutra - News - GDC: McGonigal: Game Developers Will Shape the Future of our World: "“I think game developers have some of the most reason to be optimistic out of anyone on the planet,” says McGonigal. She proses that about 1 in 2000 people have a chance of altering their own future.
“That’s based on the concept of having 3 million game designers, developers, hackers, and counting. I have determined that game platforms are the best thing we will have in terms of determining the future.”"
“That’s based on the concept of having 3 million game designers, developers, hackers, and counting. I have determined that game platforms are the best thing we will have in terms of determining the future.”"
Apple upsets educators with Scratch Viewer app removal | Touch Reviews
Apple upsets educators with Scratch Viewer app removal | Touch Reviews
Steve Jobs is kind of the evil twin of Seymour Papert.
Steve Jobs is kind of the evil twin of Seymour Papert.
Scratch Forums / Apple hurt me right in the heart
Scratch Forums / Apple hurt me right in the heart: "Apple has just removed the Scratch player for the iPhone/iTouch! Why you ask? Because they hate us. When I asked andresmh(via Twitter), he replied 'Scratch kinda lets anyone create an iPhone app and it seems like they want to decide who can and who cannot do that'. Basically, Apple hates us."
Another reason to either not get an Ipad or jailbreak it.
Another reason to either not get an Ipad or jailbreak it.
AlterNet: How Glenn Beck Re-Invented Himself as a Crying Conservative
AlterNet: How Glenn Beck Re-Invented Himself as a Crying Conservative: "Secular liberals watch Beck’s cheap theatrics and see unmanly, dishonest, and possibly insane behavior. Mormons and like-minded evangelicals, especially Pentecostals, see familiar signposts associated with masculinity, sincerity, and even authority."
AlterNet: How Glenn Beck Re-Invented Himself as a Crying Conservative
AlterNet: How Glenn Beck Re-Invented Himself as a Crying Conservative: "“On talk radio in the 1980s and 1990s, ” writes Susan Douglas, a media historian at the University of Michigan, “masculinity was constructed as a fusion of traditionally ‘male’ and ‘female’ traits. Boys were supposed to be boys, meaning white, heterosexual boys, but they were also gender poachers, recuperating masculinity at the end of the century by infusing it with the need to chat, the need to confess insecurities, the need to be hysterical and overwrought about politics, the need to make the personal political.”"
AlterNet: How Glenn Beck Re-Invented Himself as a Crying Conservative
AlterNet: How Glenn Beck Re-Invented Himself as a Crying Conservative: "As Beck knows very well, being hammered relentlessly has its uses. When SNL finally did come after Beck, he was thrilled. Heavy attacks by liberals only publicize and reinforce Beck’s faux vulnerability among the only people who matter to his business: conservatives who hate liberals."
Thursday, May 6
New U.S. Push to Regulate Internet Access - WSJ.com
New U.S. Push to Regulate Internet Access - WSJ.com: "Breaking a deadlock within his agency, Mr. Genachowski is expected Thursday to outline his plan for regulating broadband lines. He wants to adopt 'net neutrality' rules that require Internet providers like Comcast Corp. and AT&T Inc. to treat all traffic equally, and not to slow or block access to websites."
News: Who Really Failed? - Inside Higher Ed
News: Who Really Failed? - Inside Higher Ed: "'The class in question is an entry-level biology class for non-science majors, and, at mid-term, more than 90 percent of the students in Dr. Homberger's class were failing or had dropped the class. The extreme nature of the grading raised a concern, and we felt it was important to take some action to ensure that our students receive a rigorous, but fair, education. Professor Homberger is not being penalized in any way; her salary has not been decreased nor has any aspect of her appointment been changed.'"
News: Who Really Failed? - Inside Higher Ed
News: Who Really Failed? - Inside Higher Ed: "The biology professor at Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge gives brief quizzes at the beginning of every class, to assure attendance and to make sure students are doing the reading. On her tests, she doesn't use a curve, as she believes that students must achieve mastery of the subject matter, not just achieve more mastery than the worst students in the course. For multiple choice questions, she gives 10 possible answers, not the expected 4, as she doesn't want students to get very far with guessing."
Wednesday, May 5
Research shows that Internet is rewiring our brains / UCLA Today: "'iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind.'"
Tuesday, May 4
Undo Restart Restore � Blog Archive � Some useful Inform 7 extensions
Undo Restart Restore � Blog Archive � Some useful Inform 7 extensions: "Epistemology by Eric Eve
By far the most useful extension I’ve yet found. The first thing I do every time I start a new project is including this extension because it will almost certainly be used.
Epistemology adds two properties to every thing in the game: seen/unseen and familiar/unfamiliar. Every object starts as unseen and when the player encounters things (is in the same room or looks in the container where the object is) they automatically change to being seen. The familiar/unfamiliar property is what the author can toggle when needed if the player character already knows about something or learns about it during the game. The author can test whether a thing is either seen or familiar by checking if it’s known or unknown."
By far the most useful extension I’ve yet found. The first thing I do every time I start a new project is including this extension because it will almost certainly be used.
Epistemology adds two properties to every thing in the game: seen/unseen and familiar/unfamiliar. Every object starts as unseen and when the player encounters things (is in the same room or looks in the container where the object is) they automatically change to being seen. The familiar/unfamiliar property is what the author can toggle when needed if the player character already knows about something or learns about it during the game. The author can test whether a thing is either seen or familiar by checking if it’s known or unknown."
Monday, May 3
Bullies Target Obese Kids on Yahoo! Health
Bullies Target Obese Kids on Yahoo! Health: "New research suggests that just being overweight increases the risk of being bullied. And factors that usually play a role in the risk of being bullied, such as gender, race and family income levels, don't seem to matter if you're overweight -- being overweight or obese trumps all those other factors when it comes to aggressive behavior from other children."
tongodeon: Fructose
tongodeon: Fructose: "Children and Regulation
Kids are at greatest risk because so many kids' foods and drinks are loaded with sucrose and HFCS. It's not just that the more sugar you expose children to, the more they crave it later - the more sugar a pregnant woman consumes, the more gets across the placenta and causes developmental programming and adiposity (extra fat) before the baby is even born. Beer and soda are metabolically equivalent - 150 calories, 90 of which are metabolized by the liver. Giving your kid a can of coke is just like giving your kid a Budweiser - same dosing, same mechanism, same reason. 'Fructose is ethanol without the buzz.'
The FDA ought to control fructose, because fructose is a toxin. It has toxic effects in the liver, but not immediately - after 1000 meals, not just 1 meal. The FDA doesn't do this because of political and economic pressure - food is one of America's primary exports, corn especially, and we can't have the FDA saying that our food is toxic. The government is unlikely to do anything, so it's up to us to make ourselves aware of this."
Kids are at greatest risk because so many kids' foods and drinks are loaded with sucrose and HFCS. It's not just that the more sugar you expose children to, the more they crave it later - the more sugar a pregnant woman consumes, the more gets across the placenta and causes developmental programming and adiposity (extra fat) before the baby is even born. Beer and soda are metabolically equivalent - 150 calories, 90 of which are metabolized by the liver. Giving your kid a can of coke is just like giving your kid a Budweiser - same dosing, same mechanism, same reason. 'Fructose is ethanol without the buzz.'
The FDA ought to control fructose, because fructose is a toxin. It has toxic effects in the liver, but not immediately - after 1000 meals, not just 1 meal. The FDA doesn't do this because of political and economic pressure - food is one of America's primary exports, corn especially, and we can't have the FDA saying that our food is toxic. The government is unlikely to do anything, so it's up to us to make ourselves aware of this."
tongodeon: Fructose
tongodeon: Fructose: "What To Do About It
If you want to stay healthy, get rid of all sugared liquids. Drink only water and milk. Eat carbohydrates with fiber, and wait 20 minutes before you eat a second portion, to get the satiety signal. 'Buy' your screen time with an equal amount of physical activity. If you go out and play for 30 minutes you can watch TV for 30 minutes. In his clinic, these measures work - BMI z-scores steadily decrease from baseline over 30 months. Multivariate linear regression analysis shows that the one thing that prevents this from working is sugared beverage consumption. The more sugared beverages his patients drink, the less well the lifestyle interventions work."
If you want to stay healthy, get rid of all sugared liquids. Drink only water and milk. Eat carbohydrates with fiber, and wait 20 minutes before you eat a second portion, to get the satiety signal. 'Buy' your screen time with an equal amount of physical activity. If you go out and play for 30 minutes you can watch TV for 30 minutes. In his clinic, these measures work - BMI z-scores steadily decrease from baseline over 30 months. Multivariate linear regression analysis shows that the one thing that prevents this from working is sugared beverage consumption. The more sugared beverages his patients drink, the less well the lifestyle interventions work."
For High-Fructose Corn Syrup, Sweet Talk Gets Harder - NYTimes.com
For High-Fructose Corn Syrup, Sweet Talk Gets Harder - NYTimes.com: "Working with the ad agency DDB and a team at Ogilvy Public Relations, the Corn Refiners Association has plowed more than $30 million over the last two years into an ad campaign called “Sweet Surprise” that highlights what it says are vague and unsubstantiated opinions."
Back to the Hugos: Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner | Sam Jordison | Books | guardian.co.uk
Back to the Hugos: Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner | Sam Jordison | Books | guardian.co.uk: "Apparently when Brunner was young it was thought that if everybody in the world were to stand shoulder-to-shoulder they would take up an area the size of the Isle of Wight. Looking at population growth figures, Brunner postulated that by 2010 the same trick would necessitate an island the size of Zanzibar. Hence the title. He also suggests that the resultant over-crowding would necessitate severe eugenic controls – and all the social problems that you might expect when a large percentage of the population are forcibly prevented from breeding, everybody else is limited in the number of offspring they can produce and nobody can have a house of their own because there isn't enough room."
Little-Known Disorder Can Take a Toll on Learning - Well Blog - NYTimes.com
Little-Known Disorder Can Take a Toll on Learning - Well Blog - NYTimes.com: "The symptoms of A.P.D. — trouble paying attention and following directions, low academic performance, behavior problems and poor reading and vocabulary — are often mistaken for attention problems or even autism."
The Talents of a Middle-Aged Brain - Well Blog - NYTimes.com
The Talents of a Middle-Aged Brain - Well Blog - NYTimes.com: "So what kinds of things does a middle-aged brain do better than a younger brain?
A.
Inductive reasoning and problem solving — the logical use of your brain and actually getting to solutions. We get the gist of an argument better. We’re better at sizing up a situation and reaching a creative solution. They found social expertise peaks in middle age. That’s basically sorting out the world: are you a good guy or a bad guy? Harvard has studied how people make financial judgments. It peaks, and we get the best at it in middle age."
A.
Inductive reasoning and problem solving — the logical use of your brain and actually getting to solutions. We get the gist of an argument better. We’re better at sizing up a situation and reaching a creative solution. They found social expertise peaks in middle age. That’s basically sorting out the world: are you a good guy or a bad guy? Harvard has studied how people make financial judgments. It peaks, and we get the best at it in middle age."
Op-Ed Contributor - Now Don’t Hear This - NYTimes.com
Op-Ed Contributor - Now Don’t Hear This - NYTimes.com: "The scale of our noise problem isn’t in doubt. In recent years rigorous studies on the health consequences of noise have indicated that noise elevates heart rate, blood pressure, vasoconstriction and stress hormone levels, and increases risk for heart attacks. These reports prove that even when we’ve become mentally habituated to noise, the damage it does to our physiologies continues unchecked.
Studies done on sleeping subjects show that signs of stress surge in response to noise like air traffic even when people don’t wake. Moderate noise from white-noise machines, air-conditioners and background television, for example, can still undermine children’s language acquisition. Warnings about playing Walkmans and iPods too loudly have been around for years, but some experts now believe that even at reasonable volumes a direct sound-feed into the ears for hours on end may degrade our hearing."
Studies done on sleeping subjects show that signs of stress surge in response to noise like air traffic even when people don’t wake. Moderate noise from white-noise machines, air-conditioners and background television, for example, can still undermine children’s language acquisition. Warnings about playing Walkmans and iPods too loudly have been around for years, but some experts now believe that even at reasonable volumes a direct sound-feed into the ears for hours on end may degrade our hearing."
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