October 19, 2012
tl;dr - Gradual seriousness.
On Monday October 15th, XperiaBlog wrote about apparent photos of a Sony Nexus X phone found in a Picasa gallery. By the end of the day, The Verge, Gizmodo, TechCrunch and CNET had picked up the story. The next day, the hoaxer revealed how "an individual with no previous worldwide recognition save for a frontpage Reddit post, managed to alter the behavior of people in Russia, Japan, Uzbekistan, and Italy within the course of 24 hours, all from the comfort of my home while exerting next to no effort."
"The freedom of information is the basis of the freedom of the people."
NATO Research Topic: Examining the Propaganda Tactics of Operation Unified Protector: 'the full set of 20 propaganda leaflets that were being dropped over cities in Libya during the aforementioned operations.' [more inside]
Things you probably should have thought of
It is worth overcoming your hatred of lists, your dislike of the word "lifehack," and your distaste of ugly tumblr sites to scroll through the rather revelatory 99 Life Hacks. Highlights include: using a dustpan to fill containers, dental floss to cut cheese and cake, using drink tabs to hold straws, charging phones at hotels using the TV, filtering for spam the easy way, keeping your zipper up on your pants, filtering microwave popcorn, and the secret to locating highway exits. I can't believe I never knew that one...
Terror Tales
It was the last few weeks before I left 2000AD and I was looking forward to starting work on my next creation: Misty. I took the title from the film, Play Misty For Me and my plan was to use my 2000AD approach on a girls’ comic: big visuals and longer, more sophisticated stories with the emphasis on the supernatural and horror. Pat Mills on the creation of Misty, a comic full of "pacts with the devil, schoolgirl sacrifice, the ghosts of hanged girls, sinister cults, evil scientists experimenting on the innocent and terrifying parallel worlds where the Nazis won the Second World War." The Guardian's Jacqueline Rayner recalls Jinty, Tammy, Misty and the golden age of girls' comics.
Serra Hirsch, clever costumier
A little Halloween inspiration: "Friendly, Upbeat,Youthful, Energized and Versatile" voiceover actress and puppeteer Serra Hirsch
(Puppet Junction) earned herself a spot in Coolest Homemade Costumes' Contest Winner Hall of Fame
-- and her very own page on the site -- with such creations as Eggs and Bacon, Photo Booth Picture Strip, and Prisoner in a Visiting Booth. Now there's a short documentary about her. She discusses some of the details of her costumes in this video interview (dull intro section skipped).
The Stool Of Great Fright
They've been around for over 20 years, but as a snack scourge, it's only recently taken its grip on American kids. It's "hyperpalatable," meaning eating it in large quantities can lead to symptoms mirroring addiction. It's been banned from school districts in several states, including one that was moving an amazing 150,000 units a year. Corner store owners report the item as their #1 seller, and that kids even eat them as breakfast. Just a tiny portion contains 160 calories, 17 percent of the daily suggested serving for fat and 250 MGs of sodium. And it's sending kids to emergency room with a frightening but basically harmless side effect. So what is this gastrointestinal menace? Flamin' Hot Cheetos.
The right...of segregation is clearly established by the holy scriptures...
There's Light in the Green Room
Much Better Now — A bookmark is stuck in a forgotten book that is one day knocked over by wind. It experiences its environment by surfing the pages that turn in to ocean-waves, enjoying the ride of its life. As the book cover closes, light reveals new challenges. [more inside]
Happy October 19th!
The Great Train Snobbery
This afternoon, the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne got on a train from Cheshire to London. Despite only having a Standard Class ticket, he headed straight to First Class, because (obviously) he couldn't sit with the Standard Class herd. So he sent an aide to tell the ticket collector that he was going to sit in First Class, but was unwilling to pay. Sadly for him, the discussion took place right next to a journalist, who tweeted the whole thing.
This comes hot on the heels of Plebgate, of course: the protagonist in that embarrassment resigned soon after Osborne's gaffe, apparantly in an attempt to distract attention. [more inside]
What it's like to be on "Jeopardy"
I want to learn
"Learning to draw primarily comes from practice. Spend ten to twenty minutes every day sketching something new. Don't feel demotivated if you start off as a not-very-good artist."
Want proof? Check out the dates of this conceptart.org thread: Over the next sixty pages and seven years of drawing, you'll see how Jonathan Hardesty was working a little bit every day and developing from a beginning hobby artist to an accomplished art teacher. [more inside]
The Ghosts of World War II
This is just to say I have eaten the plums
“212” (nsfw) was voted Pitchfork’s no. 9 track of 2011, propelling Banks to the top spot on NME’s 2011 “Cool List” and earning her a coveted endorsement from Kanye West—all before she even landed a record deal. But some listeners just couldn’t get past that C-word. In a December 2011 cover story for self-titled magazine, the interviewer asked Banks a question that no one would have asked, say, Lil Wayne, who was three years younger than Banks when his debut album dropped: “Is it weird to play these songs for your mother?” [more inside]
(Noun) (Adverb) (Verb) RIP
Larry Sloan, the ____(adjective)____ publisher of the ___(adverb)___ ___(adjective)____ "Mad Libs" died on October 18th. His family and friends described him as ____(adjective)_____, ____(adjective)_____, kind to his pet ____(animal)____, and very interested in his hobby, collecting _____(plural noun)____.
Coursera Not Allowed to Provide Courses to Minnesota Residents?
The State of Minnesota has informed Coursera that it cannot offer courses to Minnesota residents because it has not obtained permission to do so from the state. The Chronicle of Higher Education's Wired Campus blog reports on the story here. The State was acting pursuant to the "Minnesota Private and Out-of-State Public Postsecondary Education Act," which requires schools to register with the state if they offer courses in Minnesota and requires approval if degrees are granted or the words "college" or "university" are used in the name of a school. The law was enacted in 1975 and appears to have been intended to be a consumer protection law. Noted First Amendment scholar Eugene Volokh has opined at his blog that the statute is unconstitutional, at least as applied to a web site that offers its courses for free and does not grant degrees.
The Winter of George McGovern
A family spokesperson confirms the 90-year-old McGovern is no longer responsive and is "at the end stages of his life." He has been in hospice care in South Dakota since Monday, suffering from a combination of age-related medical conditions that have worsened in recent months. McGovern is best known for running against Richard Nixon in 1972 on a platform of withdrawing U.S. troops from Vietnam, reducing defense spending, and providing amnesty to those who evaded the draft. Although he ultimately lost his election bid by a landslide, McGovern shattered the consensus in Capitol Hill around the Vietnam War as one of the first senators to speak out against the war. As a decorated World War II pilot who flew B-24 bombers over Nazi Germany, McGovern did not fit the stereotype of antiwar leaders in the 1960s and 1970s. He is also known for transforming how the Democratic Party chooses its presidential nominee and for his efforts to end world hunger.[more inside]
It's A Trap! Free music from Flosstradamus
Here's a bit of noise for your Friday: three free EPs from the duo known as Flosstradamus. As the three X EPs are presented with minimal information and blind links to zip files, here are three links with more text and streaming versions of the song. Two more bonuses: Major Lazer's Original Don remixed by Flosstradamus, and Certified Trap, a 20 minute mini-documentary on Trap Music.
Ever ever, Mr. Wes is in the building
Kanye Wes Anderson (SLTumblr)
We Don't Want a Traffic Jam?
You want us to pay you for directing eyeballs to your sites? Newspaper publishers in France want a law whereby Google (and other search engine services) have to pay for each click made from the search engine to their sites. You click on a link to a French newspaper site from a search engine, the Search Engine has to pay the newspaper for that click. If the law is passed it's likely Google will no longer include links to French sites that require payment for said links.
Meaning my size, IS NONE OF YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS.
Humans of New York is a Facebook page that posts pictures of the humans (and sometimes pets) of New York. Yesterday, HONY got ready to post a picture of an NYU student named Stella, . Afterwards, she told the photographer about a self-portrait she recently posted on Tumblr. So, instead of just posting of the photo they took, they also included her self portrait. In the first 13 hours, the photo was been seen by 2.4 million people, and has been "liked" by 300,000. [more inside]
"completely separate from the journalism functions of the newspaper"
The Seattle Times will run campaign ads supporting Washington Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna and the state's pro-same sex marriage measure Referendum-74, paid for by the Seattle Times Co..
Bubble-jetting emperors
Big Tex is no more.
The State Fair of Texas is underway, famous for its fried foods and livestock shows. Perhaps nothing is more iconic than the giant, talking statue of Big Tex--look at the domain name of the Fair if you don't believe me. But today, creating probably the greatest/most traumatic State Fair memories of all time for those present, Big Tex caught on fire and burned. Rest in peace, Big Tex.
harsh realm
"I realized we have a community of people that are highly informed but not *well* informed."
Eating Only Dessert: Why your information diet is probably terrible - "[Clay] Johnson is the author of The Information Diet, a book with a unique core metaphor: heavily processed information, like heavily processed food, isn’t healthy but for some reason we can’t get enough of it. Email. Social networks. Blogs. Online video. People today consume more information than ever before, and typically only consume the things they really, really like. Johnson compares this to a bad diet. “If you only ate what you want then we’d probably put the dessert section at the top of the menu, rather than at the bottom,” he says. “I think the same thing is happening with journalism: we’re going straight to dessert every time.”" PBS Newshour interview with Johnson (~6 min. video with full transcript). Previously: Who wants to hear the truth when they can hear they're right?
THEY'RE GRRRRRRRRRREAT!
Improving the visibility of women in Wikipedia for Ada Lovelace Day 2012
An Ada Lovelace Day editathon is happening at the Royal Society in London This is part of a project to improve the representation of 'women in science' on Wikipedia and is hosted at the Royal Society of London after previous edit-a-thons at Harvard and Stockholm. It seems like most of the participants are women. If it sounds intriguing, it's not too late to register for a subsequent session in Oxford on the 26th (You might even be given cake).
LSD: Dream Machine
In 1998, a Playstation game called LSD: Dream Emulator was released in Japan. The game had no goals except for wandering around and exploring a dream world from the first person perspective. [more inside]
A Portrait A Day Keeps Myself Sane
A Portrait A Day Keeps Myself Sane. Line portraits from David Johnson. E.g., Edward Bulwer-Lytton; Virginia Woolf; Samuel Beckett; Elton John & Leon Russell.
No, I haven't!
Have you ever had a dream like this? {22 second Youtube clip}
Go See the World
The Visit
The Visit Quick Friday Flash Fun - all you want to do is visit your girlfriend, but can you make it?
Cats That Look Like Pinup Girls
Cats That Look Like Pinup Girls (SLFridayTumblr) (NSFW)
Occupy the Prisons
The Bottom One Percent "Federal Prison Industries (FPI), which employs inmates in federal prisons, pays them between $0.23 and $1.15 per hour, with the average federal prisoner making $0.92 per hour. [F]rom this gross pay, the government deducts funds for restitution, to offset the high cost of incarceration, and for other purposes, leaving the average federal-prison employee with a measly $0.18 per hour. [Although state prison inmates'] wages were higher, ranging from $0.23 per hour to $7.00 per hour, their “take-home pay” was only about 20 percent of their wages. It’s safe to say that people making 72 cents an hour who have no other income are in the bottom 1 percent of the U.S. income distribution."
Tsugaru sounds
You might find this an agreeable way to spend six minutes and twelve seconds: a two part introduction to the traditional music of Tsugaru, Aomori prefecture, in the far north of the main Japanese island of Honshu. The first piece is a starkly beautiful song, just voice and flute, and the second a solo piece performed on the shamisen, by the late Takahashi Chikuzan, a master of the Tsugaru style. And here you can see Chikuzan in action, rocking the three strings.
Gillard - Getting Things Done
A great week for Australian Diplomacy
It has been an excellent week for Australian diplomacy. Prime Minister Julia Gillard established a strong new beginning for Australia's sometimes-troubled ties with a rising India. And the crowning moment was of course the country's victory in its bid for a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council ...[more inside]
Mitigating Mutational Meltdown in Mammalian Mitochondria
Mitigating Mutational Meltdown in Mammalian Mitochondria PLoS Biol 6(2): e35. [The PDF, where you can read the paper in its much prettier intended format.]
Mitochondria are remarkable microorganisms. About two billion years ago, their distant free-living ancestors hooked up with a truly foreign lineage of archaebacteria and started a genomic merger that led to the most successful coevolved mutualism on the planet: the eukaryotic cell. Along the way, evolving mitochondria lost a lot of genomic baggage, entrusted their emerging hosts with their own replication, sorted out genomic conflicts by following maternal inheritance, and have mostly abstained from sex and recombination. What mitochondria did retain was a subset of genes that encode critical components of the electron transport chain and ATP synthesis enzymes that carry out oxidative phosphorylation. Because mitochondria house the biochemical machinery that requires us to breathe oxygen, it was first assumed that mitochondrial genes would show very slow rates of molecular evolution. So it was big news almost 30 years ago when mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) evolution was observed to be quite rapid [1]. How could the genes for a highly conserved and critical function sustain the consequences of high mutation pressure and permit rapid rates of nucleotide substitution between species? Without the benefits of recombination, where offspring can carry fewer mutations than either parent, mutations should accumulate in mitochondrial genomes through the random loss of less-mutated genomes, a process referred to as Muller's ratchet [2,3]. How have mitochondria avoided a mutational meltdown, or at least significant declines in fitness?Here is a jaw droppingly beautiful 3D animation of what Mitochindria look like in action. [more inside]
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