November 23, 2012
Munchausen by Internet
Why would someone want to fake a serious illness on the Internet? Valerie, a cancer survivor, decided to blog about her experience with cancer. While blogging, she interacted with three women who faked illnesses to get attention or had what is referred to as "Munchausen by Internet." As a result, Valerie lost money and friendships, gained a troll, and shut down her blog. Here is a list of clues for the detection of false Internet illness claims.
RIP, Larry Hagman
Most expensive books of 2012
Publishers Weekly lists the most expensive books of the season.
So dig this big crux
The Last Laughing Death
"You're no longer in the film business—you're in the Fabergé egg business."
get back here cat stop escaping
Circle The Cat (flash friday fun) It's not like anyone was going to be productive at work today anyway, right?
Spoiler alert: Northern Europe does well
The 2012 Legatum Prosperity Index ranks the wealth and well-being of the world's countries according to eight sub-indexes. Interestingly, you may individually re-weight those eight sub-indexes, in order to create country rankings closer to your own values and priorities. Foreign Policy has more on the Prosperity Index's unique approach to the ultimately very silly art of numerically ranking nation-states.
Beyond the Vault
Gaming made me - RPS writer Patricia Hernandez on how Fallout 2 shaped her world view, her politics and her sexuality.
Randomized Consumerism
"Every time I run [Amazon Random Shopper], I give it a set budget, say $50. It grabs a random word ... then runs an Amazon search based on that word. It then looks for every paperback book, CD, and DVD in the results list, and buys the first thing that’s under budget."
“First with the head, then with the heart.” ― Bryce Courtenay, The Power of One
Bryce Courtenay, prolific Australian author, dies. "Courtenay, who has been suffering from stomach cancer, died in Canberra late on Thursday with his wife Christine, son Adam, and his family pets, Tim the dog and Cardamon the Burmese cat, by his side. He was 79."
do that conga
A familiar sight in many post-Thanksgiving households: Sloopy the dancing Chihuahua (SLYT).
CTRL+ALT+DEL+ - Deleted?
No more CTRL+ALT+DEL+. Tim Buckley is rebooting his Web-Comic. Interesting explanation of why in his blog post (scroll down to the Post titles Endings.
The New Recreation Frontier?
Lets Swim To Work! "Centuries of boat traffic, heavy industry, sewage runoff and toxic dumping have ingrained in us the idea that urban waterways are not places for people. Even as cities have rushed to the water’s edge over the past couple of decades, building elaborate waterfront parks and esplanades, few have taken the next logical step: encouraging residents to dive in." [more inside]
The Yodeling Astrologer
When Jim Holmberg fractured his skull after a motorcycle accident in the 1960s, it left him several things - deafness in the left ear, a belief in cosmic forces that had cured the resulting spinal meningitis, and an astonishing sopranino range in his voice. [more inside]
The Wrong Right
5-part series from Conservative Home about weaknesses in how the UK conservative movement thinks and operates. 1: Polling not punditry. 2: The working class has different concerns in 2012. 3: Conservatives need a new attitude to government. 4: Thatcher and Reagan didn't tame the state. 5: Why does the right treat spending cuts as light entertainment?
The threat won't be understood until a Cyberdisaster
missing link
Can’t get enough of these videos from AsapSCIENCE. Here’s an earlier one from the Your Brain On Drugs series entitled marijuana. I was pretty stoned when watching it and ended up cracking up at the funny cats – total highlight for me. Can’t remember the gist, but you should definitely check it out. (Text Via) (slyt)
« Previous day | Next day »