May 28, 2008
The Androids are coming!
Hi, everybody, eh!
An analysis of the medical care provided to the family of Homer J. Simpson from the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
State of decay
State of decay :"Over the years, Boston artist Rosamond Purcell has photographed goliath beetles and translucent bats culled from the backrooms of natural history museums; a collection of teeth pulled by Peter the Great; moles flayed by naturalist Willem Cornelis van Heurn; and scores of worn and weathered objects, like termite-eaten books and fish skeletons."
The Apostrophe Engine
A poem that builds upon itself and grows as the world wide web grows. The Apostrophe Engine is a website operated by Bill Kenney and Darren Wershler-Henry. It is the source of the poems in apostrophe, a book published by ECW Press in 2006.
The home page of the Apostrophe Engine site presents the full text of a poem called "apostrophe", written by Bill in 1993. In this digital version of the poem, each line is now a hyperlink.
How it works. [more inside]
Read at work
Read at Work. How to read at work without being busted, and not in a "guide to" kind of way...
Waverly Films
Waverly Films has already been discussed on Metafilter... 3 years ago. Since then, they've posted over 100 consistently funny weekly videos. [more inside]
Cluster bombs banned by over 100 countries
More than 100 nations have reached an agreement on a treaty which would ban current designs of cluster bombs. Naturally, the most militant nations (USA, Russia, China, India, Pakistan) have refused to negotiate (creating significant interoperability issues for allied nations such as the UK to the USA). The Cluster Munition Coalition is an excellent resource about the issue. [more inside]
Vintage Motocross
Jake.
monkey see, monkey do
Scientists from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon have demonstrated that a monkey can control a robotic arm with its brain when food is used as a reward.
Watermelon On Tap
I know what you're thinking: "What if I attached a faucet to a watermelon and filled it with spiked watermelon juice so party guests could serve themselves right from the melon?"
All-organic or none!
All One God Faith, maker's of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap, are suing thirteen cosmetic brands for using the term "organic" on products that include petroleum-based ingredients. And now, Olympic gold medalist Mark Spitz is suing them for using his name on their unique bottle labels (where he appears alongside folks like Jesus, Mohammed and Einstein). [more inside]
Iron Lung Patient Dies
Dianne Odell passed away today. After contracting polio at age 3, she spent 58 years in an iron lung. "It's the only thing I know," she said. "I'm comfortable with it. I've never had a bedsore, which is remarkable." In 1998 she got a computer and, using voice dictation software, wrote a childrens' book. She died after the power failed and family members were unable to start a backup generator. As late as 1988 polio was still present in 125 countries around the world. Today it has been eradicated in all but 7 countries.
Dignity and Bioethics
The Stupidity of Dignity: Conservative bioethics' latest, most dangerous ploy. Steven Pinker reviews Human Dignity and Bioethics, the latest report from the President's Council on Bioethics. [more inside]
Life Lock's CEO Identity Stolen
Life Lock CEO's Identify Stolen Remember all those commercials recently tell us to steal Life Lock's CEO Todd Davis' Identity? Well seems as though someone did.
If God gives you lemons...
Among European countries, Spain has been hit particularly badly by the global credit crisis. Miguel Marina, a recently unemployed real estate agent (what else?) has been one of its victims. Unable to keep up with his mortgage payments or to find a buyer for his home, he has found an original solution: he's raffling his apartment at 5€ a ticket. [more inside]
Gospel On Sundays
The man who's remaking Coney Island, in his own words. Joe Sitt is a developer "who has spent 20 years trying to lure the nation's top retail chains into inner cities and yuppie downtowns."
A one, a two, a you know what to do
For some, being a WWII veteran and spending 30+ years at the US Postal Service would be a career. But Frankie Manning is more well known for dancing, inventing the air step, choreography, winning a Tony, being one of the few living Savoy Ballroom dancers and, at age 94, still teaching regularly. [more inside]
Want a Kaffiyeh with that Donut?
The Perfect Hate Storm: Malkin vs. Rachael Ray and Dunkin' Donuts. The food blog at epicurious, of all places, presents a concise summary of the dustup that resulted when the forces of right-wing punditry ran headlong into the pillars of corporate marketing. If it seems as if there are no winners here (especially since it's not even clear if the scarf in question was a kaffiyeh), at least we can take solace in the fact that no one will be wearing them any more.
Lucybelle Crater posts to Metafilter
"The Photographer Ralph Eugene Meatyard (May 15, 1925 - May 7, 1972) suffered a fate common to artists who are very much of but also very far ahead of their time. Everything about his life and his art ran counter to the usual and expected patterns. He was an optician, happily married, a father of three, president of the Parent-Teacher Association, and coach of a boy's baseball team." "His images had nothing to do with the gritty "street photography" of the east coast or the romantic view camera realism of the west coast. His best known images were populated with dolls and masks, with family, friends and neighbors pictured in abandoned buildings or in ordinary suburban backyards." His most well known and last photography series "The Family Album of Lucybelle Crater" (1972) was based on the short story by Flannery O'Connor, "The Life You Save May Be Your Own." [more inside]
Weekly Themed Art Challenge
1 X Semana is kinda like a Spanish language version of Drawer Geeks (prev.). From the site: "We are a bunch of colleagues who every week propose a character, concept or idea to be drawn. In this Blog we share the results of our exercise." The site is relatively new, but so far, this result in the "Sea Monster" challenge is my favorite. Via.
Distributed computing: something for everyone, a call to arms.
CPU Filter: You know what they say about idle hands... What about idle FLOPs? Distributed computing (a.k.a. grid computing / a.k.a. cloud computing) has come a long way in the past years, and most people probably don't know the vast number of projects they can put their idle CPUs to work on - it's not just aliens and genomes anymore. There are more than one hundred projects ranging from 3D rendering to climate prediction to saving the world with nutritious rice to neurons and nanobots. Why not lend an idle hand?
Scott McClellan was "badly misguided"
Scott McClellan wrote a book. The former Press Secretary admits some of his answers to White House Press Corps questions were badly misguided. One section of his book accuses George W. Bush of deluding himself about his alleged cocaine use.
Of course, part of the blame for the entire mess should fall on the liberal media for being "too easy on the administration during the run-up to the war...".
Hey. Joe.
Hey Joe -- Hey Joe -- Hey Joe -- Hey Joe -- Hey Joe -- [please see hoverovers for link descriptions] [more inside]
Nordic Design
Icelandic designer Steinunn Sigurðardóttir (not to be confused with the author of the same name) has won this year’s, Torsten and Wanja Söderberg Prize one of the most prestigious Nordic design awards (billed as "world's greatest" in the Swedish media), awarded by the Röhsska Museum of Design in Göteborg Sweden, for "exceptional critical acclaim for her work in fashion design." She's run her own clothing label STEiNUNN since 2000.
It's not your dad's bicycle.
If Wile E. Coyote entered the Tour de France, this would be his ride. Brought to you by some guy who always wanted to be a human missile. No word if he's going to move from eBay to Acme one day. (The bike running briefly at ear-shredding volume. The slightly more elegant European version. And, of course, Jeremy Clarkson on a jet-powered bike with a pretty basket in front.)
The year 2000 as imagined in 1910
BBC's Learning English
Did you know the BBC has extensive pages on learning English?
Seriously, don't try this at home.
Point dog!
Intense debate about weighty issues like racism, abortion, and immigration... between animals in funny hats! This is the silly punditry of Scenario: Dog v. Cat: Round 1, round 2, round 3.
"Crime. Boy, I dunno."
"Ok, my eyes must be deceiving me. That can't be someone aiming a gun at someone else on Google Maps Street View", says Michael Beck.
An Accessible Eden
The video (50mb .mov) for Sigur Rós' new single Gobbledigook was shot by Arni&Kinski, inspired by (and in collaboration with) Ryan McGinley (previously), discussed photographer, chronicler of stars, commercial short film (60mb .mpg) director, and (apparently) Jonsi's former paramour. (Some links NSFW.)
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