March 4, 2012
Were single mothers better off in the 19th Century?
"As far back as the 1800s, single mothers were receiving benefits. At that time, they would be paid up front and in cash, but were they better off than today?"
[via] [Spoiler Inside] [more inside]
In 129 the Dwarves made war against the Ogre
How to Host a Dungeon is a solitaire pen-and-paper game in which you create an underground complex of rooms, populate them with various fantasy races and monsters, and simulate its history. At almost any time you can stop and have the basis for a D&D campaign. Here's a YouTube playthrough of a game: Part 1 - Part 2 [more inside]
Opportunity cost: The Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan Problem.
Opportunity Cost: The Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan Problem. Think you understand the fundamental economic concept of opportunity cost? Answer this:
"You won a free ticket to see an Eric Clapton concert (which has no resale value). Bob Dylan is performing on the same night and is your next-best alternative activity. Tickets to see Dylan cost $40. On any given day, you would be willing to pay up to $50 to see Dylan (because he's so cool!). Assume there are no other costs of seeing either performer. Based on this information, what is the opportunity cost of seeing Eric Clapton?
A. $0
B. $10
C. $40
D. $50" [more inside]
"The People's Song Book": Union in Song
"The People's Song Book," published in 1948, was intended to be "a folio of freedom folklore, a weapon against war and reaction, and a singing testament to the future," according to its foreword, which was written by Alan Lomax.
"[T]hese songs have been tested in the fire of the people's struggle all around the world. They emerged quietly and anonymously in the vanguard of apparently lost causes, where men of good will have fought to keep this a decent world to live in. ... These folk, heritors of the democratic tradition of folklore, were creating for themselves a folk-culture of high moral and political content." [more inside]
The history of Vox guitar amps
How Dartford Powered the British Beat Boom, a BBC documentary on the history of Vox guitar amps, played by the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Shadows and Queen. Part II
Winner: creepiest use of a child in politics.
Republican candidate for the US Senate Barry Hinckley doesn't mind using his cute five year old son on the campaign trail. But things got a little weird when father and son were interviewed on Fox News.
Back again, in 1/128 size.
Four child slaves of mixed-race heritage with pale skin were used in pictures to raise funds
The ‘white’ slave children of New Orleans: Almost immediately after the law came into practice, Northerners and abolitionists set up relief organisations, which battled to establish schools and provide other forms of support – but their resources were limited. They soon discovered it was near-impossible to find sympathy and support in a war-torn and racially-prejudiced county.
Do Iran's threats hold currency?
Iran has pledged to open its oil bourse to currencies other than the US dollar as of March 20th, 2012. Previously.
The phrase "nuclear option" gets thrown around in a lot of metaphorical contexts -- perhaps this one would be the most apt. [more inside]
Do I Do Visions?
The SF Jazz Collective just began their month-long Spring 2012 tour. Each year since 2004 the eight musicians have selected a composer to honor — including many of the usual suspects: Coltrane, Hancock, Monk, Shorter, Tyner. (In 2013 it will be Chick Corea) This year, changing things up a bit, they've decided to showcase the music of Stevland Hardaway Morris. [more inside]
Want to bro down and crush code?
"Tech’s latest boom has generated a new, more testosterone-fueled breed of coder. Sure, the job still requires enormous brainpower, but today’s engineers are drawn from diverse backgrounds, and many eschew the laboratory intellectualism that prevailed when semiconductors ruled Silicon Valley.... At some startups the pendulum has swung so far in the other direction that it’s given rise to a new 'title': brogrammer."
'8,' Dustin Lance Black's Prop. 8 Play
Last night Dustin Lance Black's traveling Prop. 8 play, "8," was performed at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles with a star-studded cast. "Framed around the trial's historic closing arguments in June 2010, '8' provides an intimate look what unfolded when the issue of same-sex marriage was on trial." "Saturday's benefit performance was broadcast live on YouTube, where director Rob Reiner said it drew 200,000 viewers."* You can watch an archive of the performance here [02:01.32]. [more inside]
Janet Napolitano goes Blackalicious on the interwebs
Agriculture avalanche avian bacteria border botnet carbomb China drill drug drug war earthquake execution forest fire gang gas grid hack heroin hostage interstate Islamist Jihad Juarez keylogger kidnap La Familia looting malware marijuana meth lab nationalist nuclear outbreak Pakistan pandemic pipebomb pirates power lines radicals relief resistant Ricin riot San Deigo scammers screening symptoms Tamiflu terror U.S. Consulate violence virus warning weapons grade wildfire, and Yemen. [more inside]
Microsoft Word and writing
Has Microsoft Word affected the way we work? "Consider first the name that the computer industry assigned to it: word processor. The obvious analogy is with the food processor, a motorised culinary device that reduces everything to undifferentiated mush."
Time Has Come Today, Just Not Royalties
The story of Lester Chambers of The Chambers Brothers in one picture. A cautionary tale of working for an RIAA label (and Clive Davis) and what happens when your 'legendary hit' peaks at #11. At least he has a friend in Yoko Ono.
Find One In Every Car, You'll See
Little Tree AirFresheners have been around since 1954. The ubiquitous shapes are in movies, involved in litigation, burn, are art, get you ticketed and may be killing you.
Galanthomania
Snowdrops, or Galanthus, are those little white flowers you often see in the early Spring, sometimes poking up from under the snow. At first glance, they're charming, but not terrifically interesting. Galanthophiles of the world think otherwise. [more inside]
Images from the Envistat satellite.
Scan here for a link to this post!
Global Village People
Is Privacy Dead? A conversation. "For the entirety of human history, we have operated on small scales and in relative anonymity. Our words are heard by the few people close to us and most are quickly forgotten. We walk down the street without passers-by knowing our names or history. The internet has started to change that. Our words and actions can easily be shared with billions of people around the globe and archived indefinitely. The details of our lives can be found simply by typing our name into Google.
We need to understand the risks of this type of technology so that we can fully gain its benefits. We need protections, both technical and legal, so that a small mistake cannot devastate our lives. We also need education to help us function in a world where privacy is no longer the natural state of being."
The Precariat
The 'precariat' "consists of a multitude of insecure people, living bits-and-pieces lives, in and out of short-term jobs, without a narrative of occupational development, including millions of frustrated educated youth who do not like what they see before them, millions of women abused in oppressive labour, growing numbers of criminalised tagged for life, millions being categorised as ‘disabled’ and migrants in their hundreds of millions around the world". [more inside]
Some are more Equal than others
The best and worst places to be a woman is an Independent on Sunday investigation to mark International Women's Day which unearths some surprising results
Are we EQUALS? Is a series of short films about whether men and women are really equals in 2012.
Are we EQUALS? Is a series of short films about whether men and women are really equals in 2012.
On the Choice of Browser and Numerical Intelligence
We analyzed usage data of the www.calcudoku.org number puzzle website for the years 2010 and 2011, consisting of over 1 million solved puzzles, and attempted to determine the numerical intelligence of users of Internet Explorer (IE), Firefox, and Chrome. [[Full 4 page report here, PDF]] [more inside]
Chinese Women's Olympic Weightlifting
It’s a very specialized set of sports that the Chinese focus on but they simply kick absolute ass at them. ... If you look at the 2008 Olympic weightlifting results in Beijing... the women didn’t just squeak by to win a medal; most were simply so far ahead of their competition that it was a joke. In most cases, the Chinese women took their first attempt after everyone else had already finished lifting for the day. And they came out and just dispatched their weights in perfect form, setting new world records and winning medals with abandon. [more inside]
"Seriously..."
"more overt sexuality, more exposed flesh"
American illustrator Coles Phillips became famous in 1908 for his "Fade-Away Girl" magazine covers, which caught the eye and saved money on color printing. He was a leader in creating "more modern, active and athletic images of women" after the prim poise of the Gibson Girl era. His later work became more overtly sexual, making him one of the first artists whose beautifully designed ads were "torn out of magazines and swiped out of store windows to
become pin-ups on college dormitory walls." Some were considered
scandalous. He died in 1927. Two long pages of Coles Phillips images. Six
pages. Bio. Tumblr tag. More ads.
ISAAAAAC? ISAAAAAC!
Harry Redknapp, Rube of the Year
Despite evidence of extensive misconduct, English football coach Harry Redknapp remains beloved in the hearts and minds of football fans.
Railway termini are our gates to the glorious and the unknown. Through them we pass out into adventure and sunshine, to them, alas! we return.
Network Rail virtual archive Original drawings and plans of Britain's railway infrastructure from Network Rail, including the Forth Bridge, Bristol Temple Meads station, the Tay Bridge and lots more.
Never cut your feet again on corals and mussels
The Swiss Protection Sock is a sock as good as a shoe. It's 50% kevlar!
You're not a scientist. You're not a doctor. You're not even a full-time employee! Where did your life go so wrong?
Mari0 is a fan-made mash-up of Nintendo and Valve Software's games, with a 4-player co-op mode and a level editor. And as a nod to Team Fortress, there are hats. Downloadable for PC, OS X and Linux.[via]
RIP Ronnie Montrose
He started out in Sawbuck, played with other bands, including Edgar Winter Group then launched his own band, Montrose. After Montrose, he formed Gamma, and revealed on tour in 2009 that he had successfully beat prostate cancer. Alas, prostate cancer came back with a vengeance and took Ronnie out on March 3rd, 2012. Get on your bad motor scooter and ride, Ronnie.
Just in time for Sunday, Quatuor pour la Fin du Temps
Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time is beautiful and strange. The approximately fifty minute piece was written and premiered in a Nazi prison camp, having grown out of the composers friendship with musicians he met while imprisoned. [more inside]
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