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In 1987, the Caltech biomagnetist and paleomagnetist Joe Kirschvink gave undergraduate Dawn Sumner a rock sample [from South Australia] to study for her senior thesis. The apparent glacial origin of this rock lead directly to the theory that periodically the Earth has been thoroughly glaciated from the poles to the Equator: the so-called
Snowball Earth events. A
website dedicated to this theory includes
detailed teaching slides,
a FAQ, and many other resources on this interesting period in Earth's history.
posted to MetaFilter by Rumple
at 7:29 PM on April 21, 2008
(7 comments)
Using an iPod Touch wireless features when travelling in Europe - what is the general availability of free wireless connections/hotspots? Would one be able to get substantial use out of it for checking train schedules, finding telephone numbers, etc?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Rumple
at 1:23 AM on March 3, 2008
(14 comments)
Sushi Science and Hamburger Science:
I had always regarded science as universal and believed there are no differences in science at all between countries. But I was wrong. People with different cultures think in different ways, and therefore their science also may well be different. In this essay, I will describe differences I have observed between Western science and Eastern science. Let me start with a parable......
posted to MetaFilter by Rumple
at 10:13 AM on February 24, 2008
(47 comments)
The Dictionary of Coming to Terms with the Past (
Wörterbuch der 'Vergangenheitsbewältigung') examines over 1,000 German words that have Nazi connotations, such as
Endlösung (Final Solution) and
Selektion, It is featured in a
review by der Spiegel. Such loaded words still constitute a minefield for Germans today, as the Archbishop of Cologne
discovered last year in a situation
analogized to Senator Biden's use of the term "articulate" when referring to Senator Obama.
posted to MetaFilter by Rumple
at 9:59 PM on February 17, 2008
(49 comments)
A
sad update has been posted to
this well-loved AskMe question.
posted to MetaTalk by Rumple
at 1:38 AM on February 17, 2008
(17 comments)
"In a
test of the American Dream, Adam Shepard started life from scratch with the clothes on his back and twenty-five dollars. Ten months later, he had an apartment, a car, and a small savings."
Introduction to the book which arose from his "journey", which was inspired by
Barbara Ehrenreich.
posted to MetaFilter by Rumple
at 2:13 PM on February 15, 2008
(244 comments)
OSX Leopard 10.5.2 update - somehow aborted, now my macbook pro is caught in limbo.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Rumple
at 9:54 PM on February 11, 2008
(17 comments)
Answers Research Journal
is a new "professional peer-reviewed technical journal for the publication of interdisciplinary scientific and other relevant research from the perspective of the recent Creation and the global Flood within a biblical framework."
Current Volume.
Call for Papers.
posted to MetaFilter by Rumple
at 2:07 PM on February 2, 2008
(32 comments)
Art Images for College Teaching
is a
searchable,
browsable collection of 2,027, well, art images for college teaching, and appears to be mainly the personal collection of Art Historian
Allan Kohl (previously on MeFi), and thus represents his interests and specialities, not to mention the variable quality of his photographic skills. Rather strong in Ancient and Medieval, especially architecture, but tapers off as you become more distant from Europe or closer to the 20th century. Nice sets include the
Lion Hunt from Ashurbanipal, Iraq; the
exterior sculpture of Chartres; and
grave stele.
posted to MetaFilter by Rumple
at 10:39 AM on February 1, 2008
(4 comments)
A recent poll (PDF) asked for reactions to the same model dressed in two different ways: in a plain shirt with her hair down, and in a blue head scarf of the style of some Islamic women. Perhaps understandably, the survey respondents felt the scarfed image was more traditional and more religious. But some of the other perceptions are less obviously predictable. (via
crooked timber)
posted to MetaFilter by Rumple
at 5:55 PM on January 29, 2008
(48 comments)
"The "
American Intervention in Northern Russia, 1918-1919," nicknamed the "Polar Bear Expedition," (
wikipedia) was a U.S. military intervention in northern Russia at the end of World War I." The ostensible purpose was to open an Eastern Front following the Russian withdrawal from World War I, but in practice the unit stayed to fight Bolshevism. An archive of the expedition, which gives wonderful insight into early Bolshevik Russia as well as war-weary United States, is
online.
posted to MetaFilter by Rumple
at 1:19 AM on January 25, 2008
(23 comments)
Photogalleries of
Loyalist (UFF, UVF) and
Nationalist (IRA) murals in Northern Ireland.
posted to MetaFilter by Rumple
at 1:23 AM on January 14, 2008
(43 comments)
Ever wonder how flaked stone tools such as the famous 12,000 year old
Clovis spear points were made? A series of videos from youtube user
flintknappingtips leads you through
primary shaping,
blank preparation,
blank shaping, thinning, and
fluting of a Clovis point. Total manufacturing time is about 40 minutes. Unscrupulous flintknappers have sold such replicas for
tens of thousands of dollars (PDF), leading to a micro-business of stone tool authentication, after which, naturally,
fake authentication papers started to appear came to light.
posted to MetaFilter by Rumple
at 12:19 AM on November 14, 2007
(23 comments)
Growing Up Sexually:
A world atlas and encyclopedia of cross-cultural practices in the sexual enculturation of children. The project
overview gives context for the site, which is a subproject of the frighteningly comprehensive
International Encyclopedia of Sexuality. Primary author of site is an M.D.
No images, text may not be safe for work.
posted to MetaFilter by Rumple
at 7:33 PM on November 9, 2007
(32 comments)
It's not a bug, it's a feature: Carolin Horn has designed
Anymails, which represents your email messages and folders as micro-organisms. The morphology of the individual organisms and their behaviour within colonies imparts information about the state of your email. You can view QT movies of the application in action (
1,
2), download her
thesis, and download
the Anymails code itself. See some of her other work
here (predominantly in German).
via Madame Martin, the "French Metafilter".
posted to MetaFilter by Rumple
at 10:44 AM on August 31, 2007
(22 comments)
The battery in my G4 Powerbook won't charge, and I am a long way from any technical help!
posted to Ask Metafilter by Rumple
at 10:49 AM on July 30, 2007
(5 comments)
A nice
set of photographic glass-plate transparencies depicting life in Japan ca. 1910. These "Yokohama photographs" were sold to foreign tourists between about 1868 and 1912. I found the
Crafts and Trades section most interesting.
posted to MetaFilter by Rumple
at 2:43 PM on June 7, 2007
(18 comments)
Recommendations needed for hearing roots or acoustic blues music in Austin, Texas from April 26th to April 29th.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Rumple
at 8:28 AM on April 19, 2007
(7 comments)
A week before Jimi Hendrix died in London he
(probably) recorded the Welsh anthem "
Land of our Fathers" (embedded audio). The eight-track recording languished in a corner of a recording studio until recently.
posted to MetaFilter by Rumple
at 10:42 PM on December 31, 2006
(30 comments)
Winners
of an international poster competition to raise awareness about prostitution (probably
NSFW).
Quanto "
wants to arouse new reflections to bring forward a topic that tends more and more to hide and become unconspicuous,"
by "attempting to explore the meaning of the word "prostitution" both from a moral and a sexual standpoint."
200 more entrants.
the via is also teh NSFW .
posted to MetaFilter by Rumple
at 12:13 AM on November 20, 2006
(26 comments)
The Perfume of Garbage: an archaeology of the world trade centers (pdf).
What do the the
godfather of
garbology, a leading
post-modern archaeological
theorist (
blog), and
a "space archaeologist"(cf. space junk) think about the WTC? Obviously as a ruin and as an archaeological site - but much more. An intriguing analysis placing the WTC ruins into archaeological context, and, most particularly, responding to the Smithsonian's
exhibition of artifacts from the events of September 11, 2001. Also, a
commentary (pdf) responding to garbage, space and the WTC.
And yes, garbology goes well beyond Mick Jagger ephemera.
posted to MetaFilter by Rumple
at 9:40 AM on November 5, 2006
(7 comments)
The Virtual Gramophone.
A massive database of early Canadian 78 RPM recordings, now available in mp3 and rm format. Over 13,000 titles available, freely downloadable. Includes
biographical notes on the artists, notes on the
history of Canadian recording, interesting
technical notes on media conversion, a
few videos from the olde dayes, and
podcasts. This collection is particularly strong on Quebecois and Acadien folk/fiddle music. Courtesy of the
Library and Archives Services of the Government of Canada.
Mentioned once before in passing, five years ago on Metafilter, but much improved since them realaudio only days.
posted to MetaFilter by Rumple
at 9:38 PM on October 31, 2006
(18 comments)
Lost email in Thunderbird 1.5.0.4, OSX 10.4 (Tiger), caused by changing the settings in the news reader.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Rumple
at 12:21 PM on June 14, 2006
(4 comments)
From the U.S. National Academies Press: 3,000 Science, Technology, Medical, and Social Science Books Available Free, Online.
The interface is clunky - you can only see one page at a time, can't download PDFs (except paid) and image view is via TIFF -
but! the content is all there, and free. Some is quite technical, but much is readily accessible. Some idea of the breadth:
A Doctor's Memoirs of Treating AIDS in Haiti,
The "Drama of the Commons",
The 1872 Research Voyage of HMS Challenger,
Biography of Stephen Hawking,
Biotechnology Research in the Age of Terrorism,
Risk Reduction Strategies for Human Exploration of Space,
Forensic Lead Bullet Analysis,
50 Short Essays on How Mathematicians Think,
Recent Research on Non-Lethal Weapons, and
Introduction to Tough Topics in Contemporary Science.
Also, see their
rather spiffy site on the cosmos.
posted to MetaFilter by Rumple
at 10:57 AM on June 12, 2006
(13 comments)
The Apocalypse According to Mad Magazine?
Basil Wolverton, best known for his work on
early issues of Mad Magazine, was also a Minister in the
Radio Church of God. This church, founded by Herbert Armstrong, father of Garner Ted, believed the Apocalypse would happen sometime in 1972, and Wolverton's illustrations were in pamphlets designed to alert the public to this fact. 1972 has passed, the church has splintered, and Herbert is long dead - but nonetheless he has a
blog. As a bonus, you can view Basil's apocalypse
in 3-d.
Wolverton links via
posted to MetaFilter by Rumple
at 1:24 AM on May 26, 2006
(11 comments)
Searchable database of >120,000, reasonably high-resolution editorial cartooons.
Mainly from the UK, and from the last 100 years. Search by person depicted (e.g.,
Thatcher,
Gorbachev,
Thatcher and Gorbachev); by year (e.g., Hitler and Stalin in
1941 or
1942), by design elements (e.g., cartoons
referencing sculpture by Rodin, or
cartoons with zebras), by topic (e.g.,
BSE,
Falklands War), by artist (e.g.,
William Hogarth,
L.G. Illingworth,
Carl Giles,
Steve Bell) or by publication outlet (e.g.,
Punch,
Evening Standard (over 10,000 from Evening Standard alone). There is a handy searching wizard as well.
posted to MetaFilter by Rumple
at 11:01 AM on May 13, 2006
(17 comments)
