March 27, 2008
Bookshelves
I noticed an item at BoingBoing today about a bathtub with built-in bookshelves. Not the brightest idea, but it reminded me of several other clever bookshelf designs I've seen over the years.
One of my favorites (and I may have linked to it previously) is the equation bookshelf:
Another interesting design is the Quad Bookcase:
I'm also quite fond of these folding bookshelves:
Check out these and more: 30 of the Most Creative Bookshelves Designs. The Boing Boing post I mentioned has links to a bunch of other cool ideas, like the armchair with 5m of built-in shelving and the bench with integrated bookcases.
Finally, here's a set of plain bookshelves that's quite eye-catching:
27 Mar 23:33 | Link | Category: Misc. Tidbits
March 26, 2008
Elephant snapshots
From the Daily Mail:
We revealed the amazing story of how four tiger cubs were captured on special cameras in logs carried by elephants - giving the most intimate insight into their early lives ever recorded.
Now, we show for the first time other creatures of the jungle caught in this extraordinary - and pioneering - way.
Cheeky langur monkeys, a rare sloth bear, spotted deer and a leopard with her cub are just some of the other animals that film-maker John Downer came across in his fascinating experiment.
He fixed webcams to four elephants. One carried a "trunk-cam" - a device resembling a huge log concealing a camera which could be held in its trunk and dangled close to the ground.
Another had a "tusk-cam" hooked over its tusk. The elephants moved so steadily that the images are pin-sharp. Other log-cams were left on the forest floor.
26 Mar 18:12 | Link | Category: Misc. Tidbits, Photography, Science
A slap on the face... but very slowly
Here's another YouTube vid making the rounds:
You should also watch a man karate-chopping a block... but very slowly.
Makes you realize we really are "ugly bags of mostly water".
26 Mar 17:56 | Link | Category: Video
The Big Thaw (continues)
From National Geographic (and nearly every other news source) via the Associated Press:
Satellite images show the runaway disintegration of a 160-square-mile chunk in western Antarctica, which started February 28.
You can see the photos & video footage at the British Antarctic Survey site and this Nat. Geographic page.
Perhaps not as momentous as the breakup of Larsen B, but still unsettling.
(Which reminds me... if British Sea Power's song about Larsen B is not in your collection, it should be. As love songs / laments about ice shelves go, it's the tops.)
26 Mar 17:09 | Link | Category: Current Events, Science
March 25, 2008
Snopes (run by spammers?)
I'm constantly getting e-mails from friends and family that are... annoying to say the least. I think I've finally gotten to the point in life where I can resist the urge to reply, instead simply deleting and moving on. Today, however, I deleted but couldn't move on. I needed to vent and you are my victim. Sorry.
It's just that I can't believe the utter lack of skepticism that otherwise intelligent people have when they read that Applebee's will give you $50 for forwarding a chain letter (one of the e-mails I received this morning), or that Mr. Rogers was a trained sniper, or that entering your PIN in reverse will call the police.
It's not like it's difficult to find out whether these things are hoaxes or not. I knew the chain letter this morning was BS, but assuming I hadn't, all I would have had to do was type "Applebee's $50 certificate" into Google for an instant answer. This is virtually as fast as hitting the "forward to everyone in my freaking address book to clog their inbox" button in your e-mail client.
Someone should write an e-mail plugin that ties in with a database like Snopes, Urban Legends @ About.com, Break The Chain, Truth or Fiction, VMyths, scambusters.org, hoaxbusters... well, you get the picture. There are dozens of these sites. I think the extraordinarily credulous and extraordinarily lazy might benefit from an automatic scan (or a manual "check veracity" button - but maybe they're too lazy for that?) telling them whether or not they should forward e-mails that will clutter inboxes and annoy curmudgeonly skeptics like me.
Anyway.
I have to mention this classic xkcd strip (click to enlarge):
Speaking of xkcd, here are a couple of other classics...
25 Mar 12:38 | Link | Category: Humor, Opinion & Thoughts, Technology & Computing
March 24, 2008
Need any Cisco networking equipment?
If you're looking for Cisco networking equipment (as I know so many of my readers are... ahem), have I got a deal for you:
Cisco 2801 Router w/ PVDM2-8 and VIC2-2FXO WICCall Unity Express module (AIM-CUE) for Cisco routersCisco 851 Router
Tell your geeky friends.
Update: One item's gone, but now I have an original Apple Airport card up, too. Bid quickly! Going, going...
24 Mar 12:25 | Link | Category: Technology & Computing
March 22, 2008
Playlist - February & March 2008
Sorry I'm late with the playlist this time around. (You might want to accustom yourself to the idea of playlists not showing up on a perfectly monthly schedule.)
As always: Links go to easily-previewed / non-DRMed downloads when possible, the eMusic list is here, and you should e-mail me for the magic links if you're not on my mailing list. Without further ado, here's the hour of disjointed listening:
| Dr. Dog - Old News >> from We All Belong |
| The Cribs - You Were Always The One >> from The Cribs |
| Richard Hawley - Serious >> from Lady's Bridge |
| Buildings Breeding - Stacking Up Reasons >> from Buildings Breeding |
| Destroyer - Dark Leaves Form A Thread >> from Trouble In Dreams |
| Architecture In Helsinki - Heart It Races (As Played By Dr. Dog) >> from Heart It Races - EP |
| Deer Tick - Long Time >> from War Elephant |
| Okkervil River - The Room I'm Hiding In >> from The President's Dead |
| Sam Prekop - Chicago People >> from Who's Your New Professor |
| Richard Hawley - Darlin' >> from Lowedges |
| The Evens - Shelter Two >> from The Evens |
| The 1900s - When I Say Go >> from Cold & Kind |
| Nick Lowe - I Love My Label >> from Jesus of Cool |
| Dr. Dog - Worst Trip >> from We All Belong |
| Badly Drawn Boy - You Were Right >> from Have You Fed The Fish? |
| Bob Marley & The Wailers - Three Little Birds >> from Exodus |
| Luiz Bonfá - Pernambuco >> from Solo in Rio 1959 |
| Dengue Fever - Sni Bong >> from Escape From Dragon House |
| Gaudi + Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Bethe Bethe Kese Kese >> from Dub Qawwali |
22 Mar 0:01 | Link | Category: Music
March 20, 2008
I Guess You'll Do
"We're on a schedule here."
Ingenious. (And depressing. Goes well with yesterday's life clock.)
"Now let's go camping!"
20 Mar 15:54 | Link | Category: Humor, Video
March 19, 2008
Wacky Wabbit
It seems like I've mentioned Assud the Hamas bunny before, but here's another fun clip in which he says that if the Danes have the audacity to affront Muhammad again, they will be killed. Specifically, he will "bite them and eat them up," like he wants to do to Jews. (I'm thinking the bunny should look more like Frank the Rabbit from Donnie Darko.)
The part I'm talking about is at ~ 3:34, but the whole thing makes for surreal viewing:
A fine (if bizarre) example of the variety of mind virus that is very pernicious indeed.
19 Mar 23:54 | Link | Category: Current Events, Video
Water & Air
If you could take all the water and air on Earth and put it in spheres, you would end up with something like this:
This is from Adam Nieman at the Science Photo Library. A larger view is available on the site.
Interesting perspective, no?
More info. on the image from the Telegraph.
(via Boing Boing)
19 Mar 21:32 | Link | Category: Science
Life Clock
Here's something creepy and depressing:
The Life Clock, slowed down 61320 times so 84 years are represented by one revolution.
19 Mar 21:27 | Link | Category: Misc. Tidbits
Natural Fashion Show
From the Daily Mail:
With colourful make-up of bright yellows, startling whites and rich earth-reds, flamboyant accessories and extraordinarily elaborate decorations, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the designs in these images originated in the fevered mind of some leading fashionista.
Yet far from the catwalks of New York, London or Paris, these looks are the sole creation of the Surma and Mursi tribes of East Africa's Omo Valley.
19 Mar 21:15 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Photography
"A More Perfect Union"
If you missed yesterday's speech by Barack Obama on race, politics, and history, it's worth the time it takes to watch (or read):
Candor and substance have been missing from political speeches and dialogue for such a long time that speeches like this are always worth remark. Though it may be lost on a polarized nation that follows the lead of talk show hosts and pundits who speak in binary, I was impressed by Obama's ability to elucidate the anger and frustration (racial and otherwise) of multiple groups (and to deftly weave both Jeremiah Wright and Geraldine Ferraro into his remarks). Unlike other politicians responding to a chink in their armor (think of Mitt Romney's "Faith in America" speech or the way John Kerry tackled his views on Vietnam), Obama faced the issue boldly and did not posture or pander to specific groups.
Reportedly, Obama wrote the speech by himself in two days, showing it only to several top advisers. Again, remarkable because it is so atypical these days. But those familiar with Obama's life story and political writing will not be surprised that he could tackle these particular issues with both nuance and bravery.
Reaction from a few major newspapers can be found on the Obama blog. As always, thoughtful commentary and lots of fine links at Ghost in the Machine.
(Update: The Daily Show chimes in: "And so, on 11 a.m. on a Tuesday, a prominent politcian spoke to Americans about race as though they were adults." Although, as evident in their "open discussion", dialogue is tricky, regardless of how great the speeches may be.)
19 Mar 11:36 | Link | Category: Politics, Video
March 17, 2008
Another classic from 'Extras'
Here's yet another funny video clip, this time from Extras. (Translation: I don't have time to make a proper post, but you'll probably enjoy this better anyway.) Be sure to watch through to the end. (It's funnier if you're familiar with the characters, especially Darren and Maggie... but still funny even if you're not.)
17 Mar 20:32 | Link | Category: Humor, Video
March 14, 2008
Pachelbel Rant
"Pachelbel's following me..."
14 Mar 19:14 | Link | Category: Humor, Music, Video
March 13, 2008
Guys and Dolls
Last year, Richard Hawley put out a great, funny video for his song 'Serious' off the Lady's Bridge album. It features a guy who lives with a mannequin that he treats like a girlfriend:
Seemed funny enough when I first saw it. But little did I know, there are people who actually do this. That is, they live with dolls and treat them as companions. (And there was also a comedy/dramedy made last year called Lars and the Real Girl based on the concept, but I live under a rock and hadn't heard about it.)
It's one of those things you expect to read in a sci-fi novel. You know, the aliens decide to put a human in their zoo, but then realize the human needs companionship, so they create the closest facsimile they can. Interesting fictional material, but quite bizarre to see in real life. The following documentary follows several men who own one or more $6500 'real dolls':
From a psychological and anthropological viewpoint it's fascinating. (For example, I suspect there are very few women who would do this sort of thing. It would also be interesting to look at differences between cultures.)
But it's mostly just, well, creepy, isn't it? And how far will it go? A friend pointed me to this page of creepy Japanese robots in an IM. Check out the Simroid (#3). Or to be completely creeped out, check out the details of the last item, the Japenese "Honey doll" sex doll that looks like it's about twelve years old. You'll agree with me: we're doomed. Completely doomed. Someone take me back to the Pleistocene, please.
(I've thought of starting a "We're Doomed" category for posts like this that show technology outpacing the human brain in ways that are frightening. Whaddya think?)
13 Mar 19:08 | Link | Category: Human/Primate Evolution & Behavior, Misc. Tidbits, Music, Technology & Computing, Video
March 12, 2008
Let me in!
So true. There's another one, too: Simon's Cat: Cat Man Do
12 Mar 12:45 | Link | Category: Humor, Video
Payday Lenders
In the last five or ten years, I've noticed check cashing and payday loan centers popping up everywhere. Their astronomical fees and interest rates amount to usury, and it's quite outrageous that they exist -- and seem to be flourishing. (Their annual interest rates are often in the hundreds of percents. In a finance class I took, we calculated one rate at more than 700% annually.)
A recent WSJ article reports that "lenders are increasingly targeting recipients of Social Security and other government benefits, including disability and veteran's benefits." According to the article, data show that "many payday lenders are clustered around government-subsidized housing for seniors and the disabled." Check out the graphics in the article to see the clustering.
Oddly, payday loan centers also seem to be more prevalent in conservative Christian states. A geographer at Cal State Northridge (the one mentioned in the WSJ article) and a law professor at the University of Utah recently published a paper showing a correlation between payday lenders and the Bible Belt and Mormon Mountain West:
"Our research showed that the correlation between payday lenders and the political power of conservative Christians was stronger than the correlation between payday lenders and the proportion of a population living below the poverty line," Peterson explained.
Why so little concern about regulating payday lenders on the part of these politicians, given the admonition against usury in the Bible? Here is the authors' explanation:
"When the Christian Right allied itself with conservative Wall Street business interests in the 1980s and early ‘90s, consumer protection law was placed to the side as an inconvenient sticking point. The laws allowing an astonishing number of triple-digit-interest-rate lenders throughout most of the Christian South and Mormon West are a legacy of that political alliance."
They're probably right. But I wonder if part of the explanation is deeper than an "inconvenient sticking point" in an alliance stretching back only twenty-five or thirty years. While the hot button issues (abortion, gay rights, etc.) for evangelicals and fundamentalists are part of the so-called Fourth Great Awakening, the doctrinal outlook of many groups -- like Baptists, Methodists, and especially Adventists and Mormons -- is largely rooted in the Second Great Awakening. In an article for the latest edition of Reason, Ronald Bailey writes the following about the Second Great Awakening:
These revivalists completely rejected Calvinist predestination in favor of free moral agency, arguing that anyone could be saved by God's grace if he struggled fiercely against sin. Evil arose from an individual's conscious choice, not, as Calvin had claimed, from his innate depravity. Since everyone was free to choose good or evil, the revivalists located the source of social problems in individuals. "Lurking in this view," Fogel writes, "was the belief that poverty was the wages of sin."
From this viewpoint, then, the source of the problem is not money changers but rather the weak, sinning individuals who patronize them. I suspect that's part of the explanation for the disinterest of at least some conservative Christian lawmakers in addressing the problem of payday lenders.
As to whether they're right or wrong to have such a lack of concern for desperate, ignorant (or 'just plain stupid') folks who turn to payday loan centers... it's something that could framed in modern political ideology and argued at great length. I'm simply pointing out that it's a reflection of a fairly long history of American religious and political thought concerning individualism and the source of social ills.
(For related fun, see Check into Cash into Tequila, where someone counted the steps between check cashing locations and liquor stores.)
12 Mar 0:09 | Link | Category: Opinion & Thoughts, Politics
March 11, 2008
Four Minute Warning
My other touristy stop in Tucson was the Titan Missile Museum, the only remaining Titan II silo in the country. It's a fascinating and unsettling relic of the Cold War. The tour took a little over an hour and provided a look at the outside of the facility, the bunker & command center, and the ICBM itself. The guide provided a great deal of information on the facility, which -- eerie as it is -- is an engineering feat. He also walked us through the process that would have occurred in order for a launch.
The Wikipedia pages give a pretty good overview. For more pictures, check out this News.com photo essay. You might also be interested in last year's New York Times story on "atomic tourism". Finally, trekkies should note that part of Star Trek VIII was filimed at the silo.
Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of these Cold War sites is their simple tangibility. It's one thing to talk about game theory and the "rationality" of mutual assured destruction, to comb through historical details of the Cold War, or to shake your head over nuclear near-misses. It's quite another to see and touch the physical proof of how close the USA and USSR truly came to ending civilization. (It's also worth mentioning that there is still an abundance of warheads and other nuclear material still sitting around -- enough to create 300,000 bombs. It is dangerous to speak of the nuclear threat in the past tense; I shouldn't do it.)
One thing that struck me while visiting the museum was the almost unthinkable number of security measures and failsafes designed to prevent sabotage, accidental launches, and the like. It was very apparent that the weakest link was not the ICBMs, the facilities that housed them, or the launch crews. Instead, it was the president of the United States and his close advisors. It would have been nearly impossible for the missiles in this particular facility to be launched without direct order of the president (although I can't say the same for other launch sites like submarines).
When you think about some of the commanders-in-chief we've had during the last sixty years or so (and their political and military advisors), it's very disconcerting. Just the other day, I linked to a clip with one of those classic lines from Dr. Strangelove: "Now then, Dmitri. You know how we've always talked about the possibility of something going wrong with the bomb. The bomb, Dmitri. The hydrogen bomb." It's funny because it's true: the fate of civilization was (is) in the hands of a few politicians, whose sanity and "rationality" was (is) difficult to guage.
Just a couple of weeks ago, Wired published an article that claims the following:
Frustrated, Nixon decided to try something new: threaten the Soviet Union with a massive nuclear strike and make its leaders think he was crazy enough to go through with it. His hope was that the Soviets would be so frightened of events spinning out of control that they would strong-arm Hanoi, telling the North Vietnamese to start making concessions at the negotiating table or risk losing Soviet military support.
Codenamed Giant Lance, Nixon's plan was the culmination of a strategy of premeditated madness he had developed with national security adviser Henry Kissinger. The details of this episode remained secret for 35 years and have never been fully told. Now, thanks to documents released through the Freedom of Information Act, it's clear that Giant Lance was the leading example of what historians came to call the "madman theory": Nixon's notion that faked, finger-on-the-button rage could bring the Soviets to heel.
Lovely.
(The title of this post comes from the UK's four minute warning. See also: 1, 2)
11 Mar 20:18 | Link | Category: Travel
March 10, 2008
" Say it 'sah-WAH-row' "
One of my stops last week was Tucson, Arizona, where the weather was heavenly. I found myself with about half a day free for touristy activities. I thought of visiting the old Biosphere II, but I did that years ago. So this time, I checked out Saguaro National Park, an interesting park with two separate districts on either side of the city.
Americansouthwest.net has several QTVRs of the park and GORP has an interesting article on the cactus the park is named after:
One saguaro produces tens of thousands of seeds in a year, and as many as 40 million in a lifetime of 176 to 200 years. From the start, the odds against survival are great. Out of all the seeds that a saguaro produces in its life, probably only one will survive to adulthood.
10 Mar 18:39 | Link | Category: Travel
March 3, 2008
Out of Office Auto-Post
I will be out of town through Friday. I might check e-mail & the web intermittently, depending on availability of wireless access and whether or not I feel like checking in.
In other words, I haven't been keeping up on e-mail or blog posts anyway, and it could get even slower for a while.
03 Mar 0:12 | Link | Category: Site/Life News, Travel