March 3, 2010
Roman dodecahedron
The Roman dodecahedron is a mystery. With its beautifully symmetrical twelve pentagonal faces, the Greeks held the dodecahedron with a certain reverance. But the Roman fascination is less clear. Were they used for water pipes? Were they astronomic measuring instrumens? Were they candle stands? It's a mystery.
Constants & Variables
Caltech physicist Sean Carroll recently tweeted that he was meeting up with Lost producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. This was posted to the forums at Lostpedia, prompting immediate spoiler complaints ... so Carroll signs up and drops in to the thread to clear up the confusion, also offering some of his thoughts on the use of time travel in the show and referencing a longer blog post he wrote shortly before the start of the final season.
Arun Singhania, Nepalese media Baron, shot dead on 1 March
Arun Singhania, a controversial media baron operating a daily newspaper and chairman of a radio station in Janakpur, Nepal was shot dead 1 March by unidentified gunmen on two motorcycles. The Terai Janatantrik Mukti Morcha and the Terai Janatantrik Party-Madhes reportedly phoned news outlets in the area taking responsibility for orchestrated Singhania's murder.
The Trembling Giant
Funny or Die's Presidential Reunion
Great Teachers Are Made, Not Born
Doug Lemov is getting some attention for his work at identifying - and trying to replicate - the key things that successful teachers do. [more inside]
From Distribution to Attention
In Publishing: The Revolutionary Future, Jason Epstein posits "The resistance today by publishers to the onrushing digital future does not arise from fear of disruptive literacy, but from the understandable fear of their own obsolescence and the complexity of the digital transformation that awaits them... The unprecedented ability of this technology to offer a vast new multilingual marketplace a practically limitless choice of titles will displace the Gutenberg system with or without the cooperation of its current executives." [more inside]
“You’re going to hell, and it bothers me,” Grisham responds. “What bothers me is you’re going to hell.”
Over the last few days, a fair bit of attention on the web has been focused on Repent Amarillo MySpace YouTube, an organization dedicated to converting Amarillo, TX to the organization's particular brand of Christianity. Their tactics include "Spiritual Warfare" and witnessing, but also appear to involve harassing people who they believe to be sinners. They've even got a map of sinful places in Amarillo, including gay bars, Masonic lodges, rival churches, and other religions' places of worship. But not everybody is all that amused; blogs and websites have started springing up in response.
BBC interview with Hassan Yousef's son prior to his book launch
TF2 on a Mac?
Like Shopping And Gambling At The Same Time
Why You Should Buy Art. "The world is a vast wasteland of garbage:" Twenty-six reasons by artist William Powhida on a piece of actual art that you can buy. (previously)
Catholic Charities Denies Health Benefits To Spouses
I am writing to you to inform you of an important change to our group health care benefit plan that will take effect on March 2, 2010 due to a change in the law of the District of Columbia. [more inside]
30 emerging photographers
Look at the photographers in this year's PDN's 30 class and you'll find a solid refutation of the idea that "everyone is a photographer now."
CrocScan
I've written this Space Ritual
Coelacanth: Lessons from Doom
Jean-Paul LeBreton, level designer for BioShock 2, has written an analysis of the original Doom as well as remade (demade?) a level from BioShock using Doom [design notes].
Everyone Loves Whales, One Way or Another
Whales are the largest animals on the planet, and when it comes to storing carbon, they act like trees in a forest. A new study suggests that industrial whaling, over the past 100 years or so has released as much carbon into the atmosphere as "burning most of Oregon's forests, or driving 128,000 Hummers for 100 years." [more inside]
Sympathy for the (Japanese) Devil
Korean cyber attack on 2-channel An army of Korean netizens apparently attacked the Japanese Internet forum 2chan for their anti-Korean postings, including those targeting Korea’s Olympic gold-medal-winning figure skater Kim Yu-na, causing the site to shut down on Monday (March 1). [more inside]
The Poetry of Reality
Out of the West
Out of the West - Clint Eastwood’s shifting landscape. An essay in the New Yorker by David Denby.
NAHBS 2010
In a world where almost all production bikes are made competently and inexpensively in a handful of factories in China and Taiwan, what place is there for the traditional craftsman? The recently concluded North American Handmade Bicycle Show answers that question, with meticulous lugwork, bikes made of bamboo and wood (or just fake woodgrain), unusual designs, (sometimes both unusual designs and bamboo together) and flat-out whimsy. Even accessories received indulgent attention.
Smell like a Man, Man
Old Spice first came out in 1937 and was originally marketed to women and manufactured by The Shulton Company. The men's line came out in 1938. In 1971, the Shulton Group was acquired by American Cyanamid, which then sold to Proctor & Gamble in 1990. [more inside]
Judaism is a science fiction religion
Credit CARDs
"I Stopped Denying People." Former Bank of America employee Jackie Ramos appears on the Daily Show last night in a segment covering the sweeping credit card reform the went into effect last week.
Fed up with school lunch
Fed Up is a blog by a teacher who has decided to eat the lunch her school serves every day. A Japanese Teacher is doing the same thing.
Goodbye Footie.
Michael Foot, leader of the British Labour Party from 1980-83 and principally responsible for the longest suicide note in history, is dead at 96.
Happy Birthday, Ronald Searle!
The cartoonist Ronald Searle turns 90 today (March 3)! Hurrah for St. Trinians!.
The Cartoon Museum in London opens Searle's first-ever show in Britain. In this interview, Searle , at 90, recalls the bad girls of St Trinian's and his time as a prisoner-of-war and the abrupt leaving of his wife and children. Fleeing to France in 1961, he never returned. His archive was donated to the Willhelm Busch museum in Germany which is also holding a Searle exhibition.
The Cartoon Museum in London opens Searle's first-ever show in Britain. In this interview, Searle , at 90, recalls the bad girls of St Trinian's and his time as a prisoner-of-war and the abrupt leaving of his wife and children. Fleeing to France in 1961, he never returned. His archive was donated to the Willhelm Busch museum in Germany which is also holding a Searle exhibition.
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