Displaying comments 1 to 50 of 111
MeFi post:
Arizona Then and Now
John Fielder did this exact thing in beautiful ole Colorado a few years ago. His work makes a great coffee table book, and browsing these sorts of images is really something that needs done with great big high resolution images. I've lost myself for whole afternoons staring at these sorts of photos!
And of course, as everyone knows Colorado is far superior to Arizona
posted to MetaFilter by barnacles
at 6:53 AM on April 28, 2008
MeFi post:
Stranger Photos Have Happened
Why does someone always have to do this?
A couple friends of mine got married a few years ago. At the reception, every table had disposable cameras on it for guests to use, in order to try capturing shots the photographer wouldn't have a chance to catch. I could try to convince my friends to post those pictures on the web. The composition of the shots would be about the same level as these, you wouldn't know any in those photos,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by barnacles
at 5:57 AM on March 21, 2008
(rather, "... you wouldn't know any people in those photos, either ...")
posted to MetaFilter by barnacles
at 5:58 AM on March 21, 2008
MeFi post:
“An Efficient Representation for Sparse Sets”
So, running this operation an infinite number of times, at some point couldn't it occur that dense[n] == sparse[i], just through random chance? Though what are the odds of that? I suppose it depends on the size of the integers being stored in the array positions. 1/[integer size] * 1/[integer size], at least. Which means it wouldn't happen often, granted. But when it does happen -- KAZAM! It'll erase your TiVo.
posted to MetaFilter by barnacles
at 10:40 PM on March 15, 2008
Ah, okay, very cool. Carry on!
posted to MetaFilter by barnacles
at 10:56 PM on March 15, 2008
MeFi post:
He’s really excited about that girl.
I appreciate this, but I would appreciate it way more if there was some basic sorting functionality (esp. by rating, maybe genre).
I agree, Grobstein, so I did something about it. Here's an Excel file with all the data. Or, if you'd prefer a text file, you can have that too. Enjoy!
posted to MetaFilter by barnacles
at 10:38 PM on March 13, 2008
MeFi post:
Not Hobbits, Just Shorties?
Rumple, according to everything I've read, modern humans don't appear to have been in Palau for much more than 3 or 4 thousand years. Fitzpatrick (2002) says that as of 1998 the earliest dates found in Palau were around 2000 BP, but offers an older date of around 2600 BP from some human bone on Babeldaob. It should be noted that Babeldaob is a different island, about 20 kilometers or so from the Rock Islands. Clark (2005) pushes that back even a little further to 3000 BP on Ulong Island... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by barnacles
at 6:31 PM on March 11, 2008
The new remains are apparently primitive modern humans, so you can toss those textbooks now.
I think I'll be hanging onto the textbooks for a while yet. They agree that the majority of dates for the archipelago are around 3000 BP for initial settlement (perhaps as early as 4500, they concede), and the overall calibrated date range for the material they found was 940-2890 BP. The short-statured skeletal material was dated to 1410-2300 BP, with... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by barnacles
at 8:14 PM on March 11, 2008
Which also makes it likely that the PLoS was extremely eager, perhaps too eager, to publish this sensational paper.
Wow, I didn't see that you could check out the referee's comments until you pointed it out, but upon reading them I definitely agree with your point.
I was just directed to a recent article about Berger et al.'s work in Nature (Nature 452, 133-1 (2008)) which describes more of the controversy around Berger's... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by barnacles
at 8:51 PM on March 11, 2008
If anyone's still following this, John Hawks just put up a post about the Palauan stuff on his blog. He was editor on the paper and discusses many of the points we've been raising above (too many to copy and paste here, really).
posted to MetaFilter by barnacles
at 6:04 PM on March 13, 2008
MeFi post:
Time-Lapse Digital Cartooning
What really struck me on watching this was the amount of post hoc correction going into every panel. I'm not webcomicker, but I always imagined they planned out their comics more than this. The initial framing of the panels stayed constant, but everything else shifted within it.
Someone who knows more than me on this subject (i.e., probably everyone): how were comics done in The Olde Days? How would George Herriman have done a similar thing?
posted to MetaFilter by barnacles
at 7:54 AM on March 13, 2008
MeFi post:
Pyow-pyow
* Hack-hack-hack-pyow-hack-hack-hack-hack-hack, hack-hack-hack
Well, it's more intelligent, and intelligible, than 99.999% of YouTube comments.
posted to MetaFilter by barnacles
at 4:35 AM on March 11, 2008
MeFi post:
Things Vital to the Honor of Human Life
"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel."
posted to MetaFilter by barnacles
at 9:54 PM on March 9, 2008
Yes, Neuromancer, but when was the last time you saw static on a TV screen? All I ever see is a flat blue screen anymore.
Fair enough, paladin, but I refuse to stop loving that metaphor! Conjures up a grey sea day perfectly.
Alright, I'll try again:
A green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head. The green earflaps, full of large ears and uncut hair and the fine bristles that grew in... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by barnacles
at 11:00 PM on March 9, 2008
MeFi post:
Something to Watch While You're Procrastinating
Had me laughing! This is exactly what I needed on this Monday morning, salvia, thanks. I've been sitting here procrastinating writing and research in favor of too much time on the internets. This has inspired me to call up friends and go watch a slideshow I MEAN DO WORK shit I'm screwed.
posted to MetaFilter by barnacles
at 5:38 PM on March 9, 2008
MeFi post:
But what about the micronauts?
No citations, no reputable scientific sources, nothing but a psychic medium and his reptilian alien buddy.
... well, I'm convinced!
posted to MetaFilter by barnacles
at 12:59 AM on March 8, 2008
MeFi post:
Archaeology in 2007
For various reasons, I'm more than a bit interested in the Polynesian chicken issue, and while I have a gut feeling that Storey et.al.'s data are right (and furthermore, I'll admit I want this to be true!) I just can't get firmly on their side until they get more data. Their pub in PNAS (Radiocarbon and DNA evidence for a pre-Columbian introduction of Polynesian chickens to Chile) explains that they managed to do DNA recovery on just 12 sample bones from one site. This is... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by barnacles
at 1:06 AM on December 31, 2007
MeFi post:
The Third World Squat
I learned this squat in Uzbekistan, and have found a great deal of use for it out in situations when I want to sit but the ground is muddy. Thank you, third world squat!
posted to MetaFilter by barnacles
at 7:30 PM on December 29, 2007
MeFi post:
Trying to look ecofriendly
I'm torn on the subject of bottled water and the Pacific. On the one hand, I'm very much aware of the environmental impact that water shipments from Fiji play in greenhouse emissions. On the other hand, Fiji Water is actually fairly supportive of the villages from which it takes the water. The water plants provide good employment and reroute a (relatively) significant amount of money back to local improvement. The Fijians with whom I've spoken and worked with have all been in favor of the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by barnacles
at 9:57 PM on December 17, 2007
MeFi post:
The confining dark...
Amigara Fault was nice and creepy, though I found Falling to be pretty ordinary. Not a very good ending, really.
posted to MetaFilter by barnacles
at 10:25 PM on December 10, 2007
MeFi post:
Slip Sliding Away
I've never been impressed by this mystery, because I always think to myself: "Get a damned time-lapse -- or motion-activated -- camera, set it up out there, and wait." Boom! Easily solved. In fact, wasn't there news just a few months ago that said it was due to a combination of overnight freezing water and winds?
Or Canadians. Always Canadians.
posted to MetaFilter by barnacles
at 3:08 AM on December 2, 2007
Rocks also disappear and then are found later a considerable distance away.
A cynical person might reckon that this is done by folks who are aware of The Mystery and want to fuck with researchers.
Great USGS links, grouse!
posted to MetaFilter by barnacles
at 4:54 AM on December 2, 2007
MeFi post:
The mysterious thunderbird photo. Do you remember it?
I can't believe I have something to contribute to a thread that's (partially) about white dog poop, but when life gives you white dog poop you just gotta make white-dog-poop-ade:
When I was a young and stupid kid in Tennessee in the early 80s, some older boys filled me in on a big secret: white dog poop was just the first step in the creation of diamonds, and if you let it sit for a while longer you could collect the diamonds and become rich! Certain I had hit upon a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by barnacles
at 4:40 AM on November 27, 2007
MeFi post:
Guerilla clockmaking
Better to leave a heritage item alone, rather than place it in the hands of folks untrained in heritage management. A cute act -- and definitely neat -- but I'd rather they fought their way through the bureaucracy rather than leaving it to a single clockmaker and his army of nurses and lawyers.
posted to MetaFilter by barnacles
at 4:26 AM on November 27, 2007
MeFi post:
Kitten Cannon
It's basically a new version of Penguin Baseball, ain't it?
posted to MetaFilter by barnacles
at 8:49 PM on November 6, 2007
MeFi post:
The Black Mass
Hold up, while I collect some of the back story necessary for me to understand the relevance and significance of the pics ...
Black Mass
a ceremony supposedly celebrated during the Witches or Black Sabbath, which was a parody of the Christian Mass. Its main objective was the profanation of the Host, although there is no agreement among authors on how hosts were obtained or profaned ... ; the most common idea is that they were profaned... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by barnacles
at 6:51 AM on November 6, 2007
MeFi post:
Please help me find her!
Attention artists: Missed Connection comics should be submitted here. Connections will be accepted until December 2007. Please do not post to MeFi front page as the individual comics completely lack the impact of the accumulated ones Thank you.
posted to MetaFilter by barnacles
at 7:47 AM on November 5, 2007
