MetaFilter posts tagged with Public

Getting burned by packing heat

Blazecock Pileon — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:11:52 -0800

Does carrying a gun protect you from physical harm? Research by epidemiologists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine suggests that carrying a gun makes one 4.5 times more likely to be shot in an assault, than someone not possessing a gun. Resisting increases one's odds of suffering harm even greater. "On average, guns did not protect those who possessed them from being shot in an assault. Although successful defensive gun uses are possible and do occur each year, the probability of success may be low for civilian gun users in urban areas."

Bike vs. Cars War

nometa — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 06:39:24 -0800

In light of the recent tragic death of a cyclist in Toronto, even normally well-balanced MeFites have polarized in the bikes vs. cars “war”. But according to Guillermo Penalosa, the fight is really about better urban design. He helped to radically reinvent the transit and parks infrastructure of Bogata, making it of the best cycling cities in the world. The recent changes to Broadway in New York were influenced by Bogota's success. Gil now advises the Project for Public Spaces and is Executive Director of Walk & Bike for Life. Their solution to the pedestrians vs. cars vs. bikes battle is simple: better urban planning (previously on MeFi) that gives everyone their own safe space. Not sure if your city's infrastructure is up-to-snuff? Apply the 8/80 rule. In the meantime, keep safe out there.

Don't Blame Me, Kodos Told Me He Would've Vaporized Aetna

WCityMike — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 11:32:36 -0800

The Obama administration signaled today it is ready to entirely abandon the public option, i.e. giving Americans the choice of government-run health insurance (AP, Daily Kos, Politico, Hill). Further, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius indicated that end-of-life counseling was "probably off the table", presumably due to Republican "death panel" commentary.

Scientific literacy.

binturong — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:44:41 -0800

Americans like science. But they think much less highly of American scientists than American scientists themselves do. Most scientists also rate media coverage of science as only fair or poor. Yet public knowledge of some scientific facts is .... not that bad (Section 7). A Pew Research Report reveals all.

Huh. Kinda reminds me of that guy in Casino Royale.

miss lynnster — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:36:55 -0800

Bleeding billboard. Yeah, that's what I said.

Mother Courage and her Infuseion

Smedleyman — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:18:37 -0800

The Medill School of Journalism's Washington Program revealed its Pentagon Travel project last week (multimedia). Most privately paid for travel was found to be within the bounds of federal law, but some still show a clear conflict of interest. Key findings: From 1998 through 2007, sources outside the federal government paid for more than 22,000 trips worth at least $26 million. The medical industry paid for more travel than any other outside interest — more than $10 million for some 8,700 trips, or about 40 percent of all outside sponsored travel. Among the targets: military pharmacists, doctors, and others who administer the Pentagon’s $6 billion-plus annual budget for prescription drugs. Medill acquired 10 years worth of trip data and partnered with the Center for Public Integrity to form a searchable database which includes destination, date, sponsor, sponsor nationality, cost of trip or agency.

Making Policy Public

netbros — Sun, 31 May 2009 11:14:59 -0800

Urban Omnibus is an online project of the Architectural League that explores the relationship between design and New York City's physical environment. They are featuring Making Policy Public, a program of The Center for Urban Pedagogy, through their articles about Vendor Power and Predatory Equity. "Just as we were beginning our collaboration, 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, a predatory equity building in the Bronx widely recognized as the birthplace of hip-hop, was being overleveraged by a predatory developer. This was not only a case of people potentially losing their homes; but also of New York City losing its heritage and culture. The threats are social and cultural as well as economic. Through their work helping tenants organize and speaking to lawmakers and media sources, (we) knew that the poster would have to address two different audiences: 1) Tenants who wanted to know how the law and predatory equity practices could directly affect them and 2) decision-makers who would need inside information to take action. They imagined the publication’s goal was to mobilize tenants in affected and at-risk buildings and to convince politicians and banks to recognize the problem and take immediate action. We agreed finding a way to visually explain predatory equity was the best place to start."

A Broken Trust: Lessons from the Vaccine–Autism Wars

cgc373 — Sat, 30 May 2009 04:20:10 -0800

Researchers long ago rejected the theory that vaccines cause autism, yet many parents don't believe them. Can scientists bridge the gap between evidence and doubt? A five-thousand-word article, via Danny Yee.

Fight the Power Turns Twenty

Burhanistan — Thu, 21 May 2009 08:00:35 -0800

1989, The Number. Public Enemy's anthem Fight The Power turns twenty.

Public Service Announcements

Oriole Adams — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:11:00 -0800

Growing up, Public Service Announcements were part of my Saturday morning cartoon TV experience. I recall many celebrity PSAs, such as those made by Sammy Davis, Jr., Yul Brynner, Ella Fitzgerald, and Mary Tyler Moore.. Oh, and, by the way, M'am, we hope you'll buy Christmas seals.

Twenty Times a Day

shoesfullofdust — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:57:07 -0800

...the Department of Transportation will not keep secret the data we collect on birds striking airplanes. - Ray LaHood, United States Secretary of Transportation

From the dreaded mourning dove to the nefarious Canada goose to the humble armadillo, the FAA's recently released National Wildlife Strike Database ON-LINE contains information on aircraft/wildlife strikes from over 100,000 reported incidents between 1990 and 2008. The database was referenced previously in the Birdstrike in the Hudson thread, but until this week the the F.A.A. provided only aggregate data about wildlife strikes - collisions by state, not by airport. Submit your query here or download the current version(15 MB MS Access format) from this page. Federal Aviation Administration - Wildlife Hazard Mitigation Home Page. Wildlife Strikes to Civil Aircraft in the United States 1990 - 2007 - A comprehensive analysis of the database (pdf format). Sharing the Skies (TP 13549E) is an online book about the subject of aircraft/wildlife strikes from Transport Canada.

How to Love Golden Age Comics

carsonb — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:24:20 -0800

How to Kick a Person in the Teeth | How to Contemplate the Back of Your Pate | How to Eat Beans Without Soiling Your Jeans | How to Get Your Beard Sheared | How to Sharpen Your Wits | How to Block a BackSlapper's Sock | How to Grope for Bathtub Soap | How to Eat Crackers in Bed | How to See TV | How to Keep a Cool Conk | How to Double Your Bubble Gum Bubble | How (Not) to Reel on a Banana Peel | How to Tweak a Beak | How to Fall on Your Face | How to Laugh at a Bum Joke
...and many more hilarious how-tos from Basil Wolverton's Culture Corner. All the Culture Corner strips are also available together as a PDF or Comic Book Archive (.cbz). For lots more classic comic strip goodness check out the Golden Age Comics archive, an amazing collection of public domain comics freely available for download.

The Wheels on the Bus Dial 206...

Smarson — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 07:21:33 -0800

Seattle bus riders rejoice! From the Univ. of WA comes One Bus Away which answers the eternal public transit question "where the hell is my freaking bus??" With six flavors of awesome, you can get real-time bus arrival info. via phone, website, SMS, an iPhone-optimized webpage, or for those us still rocking the un-smart phones there's even a text-only webpage available.

"Essentially, it is all about money and power."

Toekneesan — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 09:48:59 -0800

"It would be naïve to identify the Internet with the Enlightenment. It has the potential to diffuse knowledge beyond anything imagined by Jefferson; but while it was being constructed, link by hyperlink, commercial interests did not sit idly on the sidelines. They want to control the game, to take it over, to own it. They compete among themselves, of course, but so ferociously that they kill each other off. Their struggle for survival is leading toward an oligopoly; and whoever may win, the victory could mean a defeat for the public good. ...We could have created a National Digital Library—the twenty-first-century equivalent of the Library of Alexandria. It is too late now. Not only have we failed to realize that possibility, but, even worse, we are allowing a question of public policy—the control of access to information—to be determined by private lawsuit."—Robert Darnton on what the proposed Google Book Settlement could mean for the pursuit of knowledge—Google and the Future of Books

Frozen Scandal

homunculus — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 01:37:57 -0800

"Scandal is our growth industry. Revelation of wrongdoing leads not to definitive investigation, punishment, and expiation but to more scandal. Permanent scandal. Frozen scandal." [Via]

The miracle that is public access television

Astro Zombie — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:08:20 -0800

In 1984, the Cable Franchise Policy and Communications Act (along with legislation dating back to the 70s) forced cable companies to create public access television. Thanks to this foresighted policy, we can all now enjoy programming that might never have existed otherwise. Case in point: Los Angeles's Junior Christian Science Bible Lesson Show. Many more examples inside (some videos NSFW). Vagina Power and Penis Power Folk music Floridian Neo-Nazis Let's Paint and Exercise Cursing preacher Francine Dancer Jonathan Bell Tampon Man (part two!) Star & Buc Wild Goth music Austin religious programming Goddesses Underdog interpretive dance Abused psychics Chair dancing Dr. Sphincter explains SPAM Hell, you could do a documentary on just the acts that show up on LA public access. And someone has: Part 1; part 2; part 3; part 4; part 5; part 6; part 7

Do you like this post? a)Yes b)Of course c)How could I not? d)Maybe

Gyan — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 03:26:24 -0800

Rethinking Public Opinion - the immense importance of public opinion polling in American politics, and the under-reported problems at the heart of the enterprise, combine to call for a serious critique of the polling industry, its assumptions, and its method

Personal Genome Project

thatbrunette — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:20:31 -0800

Volunteers from the general public working together with researchers to advance personal genomics. 10 volunteers, among them noted author and cognitive psychologist Stephen Pinker, have open sourced (so to speak) their genetic information. The belief is that current privacy issues surrounding genetic information is leading to a decline in research. With a hoped for 100,000 participants the idea is to give a boost to medical research involving the human genome. Pinker and the 9 other volunteers have posted up their medical history, and will add information such as tastes and preferences, ethnic backgrounds. Future volunteers will do the same, along with photographs, allergies- even television habits. Want to join?

So Open it Hurts.

chunking express — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 05:06:22 -0800

So Open it Hurts. Web 2.0 visionaries Tara Hunt and Chris Messina blogged and twittered about their romance to all of geekdom as if it were one of their utopian open-source projects. Sharing their breakup has been a lot harder. Tara Hunt writes about the article.

LibraryVenture!

Ambrosia Voyeur — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 12:34:22 -0800

Mazes and Monsters? Dungeons and Dragons? Faugh! When the Earth's very history is at stake, it's time for Tomes and Talismans! Learn the Dewey Decimal System and other library skills with Ms. Bookhart, a librarian cryogenically preserved from the 1980's and revived by The Users to save the books of Future Earth from technology-destroying race of alien beings, The Wipers. 260 of the geekiest minutes ever committed to video.

Go Superlambanana, go.

feelinglistless — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:50:12 -0800

Superlambananas are creatures about the size of a cow which have recently been herded through Liverpool and beyond, and been photographed all over the place. One particularly animated beast has recently escaped and its owners are looking for information to aid its re-capture, though its larger ancestor is still in place (for now).

the tail wagging the dog

sergeant sandwich — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 03:08:00 -0800

webofdeception.com is a bizarre, timecubesque linkdump maintained and updated by private investigator and domain squatter Joseph Culligan. In addition to sleazy dirt-digging on various celebrities and politicians, Culligan also includes a huge resource list of links to databases and public-record searches. My favorite part was the document archive; highlights of the weird crap he's found include:

Letter from Elvis to Nixon, asking to meet with the President and be appointed a federal agent

White House internal reaction to Elvis' request

Immigration papers of the Sound of Music family

First draft of Roosevelt's "date which will live in infamy" speech

Letter from young RFK to his brother

Enjoy!

NYC Waterfalls

brooklynexperiment — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:47:54 -0800

NYC Waterfalls -- On June 26th, four waterfalls will go up around New York City. Designed by Olafur Eliasson and paid for, in part, by the Public Art Fund. Rendering of what they will look like here.

Public Relations

thisisdrew — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:41:53 -0800

Show me a PR person who is "accurate" and "truthful," and I'll show you a PR person who is unemployed. In The Wake Of Scott McClellan's New Book, CBS Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen Says PR People Are Aghast At The Truth. Includes a follow-up to the mountain of reactions he received.

Socially unacceptable addictions, government encouraged addictions.

orthogonality — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 02:51:56 -0800

When the working poor turn to addictive drugs to manage pain so they can keep working, that's "moral weakness, not a public health problem.":

Every morning before sunup, Trapp drives 120 miles.... "This methadone makes you feel like a human being again," Trapp says. With disability rates as high as 37 percent in coal-mining areas such as Buchanan County, the region has many people with long-term pain management needs. As is the case with lots of aging miners, Trapp's addiction to pills began in a doctor's office, not a back-alley drug deal.... The clinic's counseling staff members say that many patients need to be on some sort of drug to cope with severe, long-term pain and that methadone has made them functional. And for those who lack insurance or access to more personalized care, it is often the only affordable option.

But using an addictive high to take money from the working poor is good government and great business:

Laura Estrada, 33,... earns just more than $22,000 a year [~ $423/wk] as a customer sales representative... but spends anywhere between $100 and $200 a week on scratch-off tickets, including the $50 [single lottery tickets]. She loves the rush. "Losing $50 makes you perspire; it makes you nervous. 'Gosh, I shouldn't have bought that.' But then you win and it makes you feel great," she said. Her reason for continuing to play? "I have to try to get my money back."... The state spends $33 million a year promoting the games that inspire dreams of instant riches, but several years ago eliminated funding for programs to help problem gamblers.