April 30, 2008
Links 7
1. Faces in Places - this blog collects photos of objects that look like faces:
(The human brain's obsession with faces is fascinating... I wish I had time to write more about it, especially the evolution of the so-called "face recognition module" - check out the info. & links at Wikipedia's face perception, prosopagnosia, and pareidolia entries. And for fun, a couple of images to mess with your module.)
2. MacBook Pro Unboxing Video - I like to think of myself as platform agnostic. I grew up using MS-DOS & Windows (among other things), immersed myself in *NIX during my brief stint as a CS major, and bought my first Mac way back in '99 when a 400 MHz G4 running OS 8.6 was the shit. These days I actively use both Windows and Mac OS, but I will admit that for most of my computing needs, I find Mac OS X offers the best overall experience. I usually think Mac cultists are funny and harmless (and the phenomenon is genuinely interesting in many ways), but sometimes they really scare me. Things like this video make me wary to admit that I use a Mac. (What's with the weird unboxing thing anyway?) At the very least, play the video until around 0:27 (although it continues for several minutes). The kid seems to be having multiple orgasms as he fondles and caresses a computer. ("Cleanup on aisle four!") And from what I can gather, it's not a spoof or a hoax. Yes, humans are very strange creatures:
3. Glassbooth - Quiz to help you choose a 2008 presidential candidate. I should've posted this a long time ago, because it's not very useful now that we're down to three candidates (or I think six, technically). Of the online candidate chooser sites I looked at this election cycle, Glassbooth had one of the more clever interfaces. There was another cool one, but I can't find the link at the moment. Maybe it'll show up in another one of these posts.
4. Vast ancient settlement found at Angkor Wat - old news, but if you missed it, it's still very interesting. I mentioned Jared Diamond the other day. The reseachers' conclusion probably made him happy:
In fact, says Damian Evans of the University of Sydney, "there is just no obvious boundary" for the settlement. The population of the area was probably around half a million, he adds, though earlier estimates of a million inhabitants - suggested in the 1970s - could still be correct.
Such extensive settlement may help explain why Angkor, which thrived between the 9th and 16th centuries, had been overwhelmed by vegetation by the time European explorers first encountered the site in the 1860s.
The main theory for Angkor’s abandonment is that the creation of an extensive water management system caused environmental damage that ultimately led to the failure of the system, leading to food shortages. That scenario now seems even more likely.
5. 26 tempting but inappropriate funeral songs - The title is self-explanatory. The list is pretty funny, and I can think of a few more. I found this via J-Walk, whose favorite was Peggy Lee's "Is That All There Is?" I happen to think it's the perfect song for a funeral.
30 Apr 20:38 | Link | Category: Link Dump '08
April 29, 2008
Links 6
1. Down for everyone or just me? - handy resource for determining whether or not a web site is completely down.
2. Vibram Five Fingers - strange and very intriguing 'shoes' that I would love to try out:
3. Twitter Away Your Life With Social Networking - I've joined one or two social networking sites in the past, but never really used them. Maybe I should actually give it a serious try someday... or maybe it's just not my thing (even though it makes me feel really old to say that). Maybe when I move and all my real-life friends are 1100 miles away. Until then it seems like another hassle of modern life (and now I feel even older). Anyway. The article I'm linking to is Lore Sjöberg's recent take on Twitter. I liked the opening paragraph:
The internet is to human interaction as Pringles are to potatoes. Companionship and closeness are processed into an unrecognizable slurry, then reconstituted as an unnatural recreation of their original incarnation. We start as social creatures, isolate ourselves into small rooms writhing with power strips, then make friends with similarly sequestered people, trying to re-create the very communities we're avoiding.
4. Maps of War - "Visual History of War, Religion, and Government" -- home of simple (but interesting) 90-second animated maps like Imperial History of the Middle East and History of Religion.
5. Neon Bible and Black Mirror - interactive music videos from Arcade Fire. (See, I really have been collecting bookmarks and stashing them away for at least a year.) Both are cool, but Black Mirror is definitely the better of the two.
29 Apr 0:05 | Link | Category: Link Dump '08
April 28, 2008
Links 5
(If you're wondering what all these 'Link' entries are for, check last week's original post.)
The bookmarks list is already down to 369, so I'm making good progress. Here are five more random links:
1. Ordinary Stars - Celebrities photoshopped to look like ordinary folks. My favorite is Pamela Anderson as a 4th grade teacher:
2. Calculate your health risks - From one of the New Scientist blogs: "We've rounded up a list of online health quizzes that measure everything from hearing loss to matters of the heart. Were Proust or Howard Hughes alive today, they would likely invest in a high-speed internet connection."
3. Southern Ocean already losing ability to absorb CO2
4. Human Ancestors Hall Tree - there are countless variations of this tree (about as many variations as there are paleoanthropologists) and they're constantly changing. Reconstructing phylogenetic relationships from a handful of fossils and indirect evidence is tricky business. I just like this one because you can click on different lineages and species and easily get a quick description and a link to some of the significant specimens. They even have a few QTVRs - a very poor substitute for actually holding casts in your hands, but better than most online images. The site is handy, though sadly incomplete.
5. Don't Buy Stuff You Cannot Afford - a semi-recent SNL skit that's actually pretty funny. Chris Parnell tries to sell Steve Martin and Amy Poehler his amazing debt and money-management book. The video quality isn't great, but it's the only copy I could find.
28 Apr 0:06 | Link | Category: Link Dump '08
April 27, 2008
Playlist - April 2008
Another month, another hour of disjointed listening...
[ As always: Links go to easily-previewed / non-DRMed downloads when possible, the eMusic list is here, and if you're not on the mailing list, e-mail me and I will be happy to provide you with the magic links. ]
| R.E.M. - Living Well Is the Best Revenge >> from Accelerate |
| The Black Hollies - Paisley Pattern Ground >> from Casting Shadows |
| Peel - In The City >> from Peel |
| Peel - Oxford >> from Peel |
| The New Pornographers - Myriad Harbour >> from Challengers |
| Fountains of Wayne - Radiation Vibe >> from Fountains of Wayne |
| Hysterics - Radical Chic >> from Hysterics |
| Modest Mouse - Dashboard >> from We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank |
| The Dears - Whites Only Party >> from Gang of Losers |
| Dengue Fever - Tiger Phone Card >> from Venus on Earth |
| The Hykkers - I Want A Break Thru' >> from Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-sounds & Nigerian Blues 1970-76 |
| The Cure - Jumping Someone Else's Train >> from Staring At The Sea - The Singles |
| The Morning Benders - Damnit Anna >> from Boarded Doors |
| Tunng - Bullets >> from Good Arrows |
| The Raveonettes - Dead Sound >> from Lust Lust Lust |
| Future Clouds and Radar - Quicksilver >> from Future Clouds and Radar |
| Sea Ray - Revelry >> from Stars at Noon |
27 Apr 21:41 | Link | Category: Music
April 24, 2008
Links 4
1. Awful words named for real people
2. "As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." - H.L. Mencken.
He'd be derided as an elitist these days, but if you haven't already seen George W. Bush's "awesome" reaction to a recent speech by Pope Benedict XVI, watch it and try to tell me Mencken's prediction never came true. (On the topic of elitism, watch the last bit of this clip in which Jon Stewart explains that he wants a president who is 'embarrassingly superior' to him.)
3. Night Photography of the Abandoned West
4. Let's Paint, Exercise, & Blend Drinks! - an episode from Let's Paint TV:
5. Jerry Falwell -- Say Hello to Ronald Reagan! by Ann Coulter. I think I once vowed not to give any more attention to Coulter because she's a troll who shouldn't make nearly as much money as she does, but I've finally gotten to the point where I find her quite amusing and there were just such wonderful lines in this piece, like "Let me be the first to say: I ALWAYS agreed with the Rev. Falwell" and "If you still think it isn't Christ whom liberals hate, remember: They hate Falwell even more than they hate me."
(See also: Falwell's Stupidest Quotes)
24 Apr 21:36 | Link | Category: Link Dump '08
April 23, 2008
Links 3 (Biofuels)
1. How the rich starved the world - an article about grain shortages and the role of biofuels.
2. (Some) biofuels aren't very environmentally friendly, either. From last year: Corn biofuel 'dangerously oversold' as green energy. A couple of excerpts:
The report concludes that the rapidly growing and heavily subsidised corn ethanol industry in the US will cause significant environmental damage without significantly reducing the country's dependence on fossil fuels.
Even if all corn grown in the US was used for fuel, it would only offset 15% of the country's gasoline use, according to the study. The same reduction could be achieved by a 3.5-mile-per-gallon increase in fuel efficiency standards for all cars and light trucks, according to federal figures cited in the report.
3. Forget biofuels - burn oil and plant forests instead. Planting forests doesn't necessarily compensate for burning oil, and not all biofuels are bad, but this link does a nice job of briefly explaining why biofuels can be bad for the environment. An excerpt:
Burning oil and planting forests to compensate is more environmentally friendly than burning biofuel. So say scientists who have calculated the difference in net emissions between using land to produce biofuel and the alternative: fuelling cars with gasoline and replanting forests on the land instead.
They recommend governments steer away from biofuel and focus on reforestation and maximising the efficiency of fossil fuels instead.
The reason is that producing biofuel is not a "green process". It requires tractors and fertilisers and land, all of which means burning fossil fuels to make "green" fuel. In the case of bioethanol produced from corn - an alternative to oil - "it's essentially a zero-sums game," says Ghislaine Kieffer.
What is more, environmentalists have expressed concerns that the growing political backing that biofuel is enjoying will mean forests will be chopped down to make room for biofuel crops such as maize and sugarcane. "When you do this, you immediately release between 100 and 200 tonnes of carbon [per hectare]," says Renton Righelato of the World Land Trust, UK, a conservation agency that seeks to preserve rainforests.
23 Apr 21:11 | Link | Category: Current Events, Link Dump '08, Science
April 22, 2008
Links 2
1. Hillary Sexism Watch - keeping track of misogynistic attacks on Sen. Clinton. (That post only links to sixty-two posts. They're actually up to at least 76.) It's clear that there are still plenty of misogynists in the media (but I think we already knew that). So maybe some of Hillary's complaints about being treated unfairly by the media are justified. But I'm not sure Obama has been coddled like she and others have suggested. (The last couple of weeks prove my point.) If anyone is being coddled, it's Sen. McCain. See the next two links...
2. Where is McCain's Flag Pin? This link demonstrates that McCain has not been wearing a flag pin for some time, which clearly means he's not a patriot. (Remember, flag pins speak louder than actions.)
3. Question For The Class - If the media are so starstruck by Obama, why are they so preoccupied with finding and amplifying any potential misstep or shady connection, however tenuous? Sir Charles of Cogitamus asks:
Do you think if Barack Obama had left his seriously ill wife after having had multiple affairs, had been a member of the "Keating Five," had had a relationship with a much younger lobbyist that his staff felt the need to try and block, had intervened on behalf of the client of said young lobbyist with a federal agency, had denounced then embraced Jerry Falwell, had denounced then embraced the Bush tax cuts, had confused Shiite with Sunni, had confused Al Qaeda in Iraq with the Mahdi Army, had actively sought the endorsement and appeared on stage with a man who denounced the Catholic Church as a whore, and stated that he knew next to nothing about economics -- do you think it's possible that Obama would have been treated differently by the media than John McCain has been? Possible?
4. Youngme / Nowme - People submit recreations of photographic scenes from their youth.
5. US Navy calls MySpace kids an "Alien Life Force" - Funny and stupid (but I'll admit to sometimes agreeing with the sentiment)
22 Apr 19:10 | Link | Category: Link Dump '08
April 21, 2008
Links 1
1. The Last Americans - Environmental Collapse and the End of Civilization -- an old Harper's article by Jared Diamond. One of his books, Collapse, explores the various reasons for societal collapse. This essay focuses on environmental degradation as a contributing factor in societal collapse, a key theme (indeed, the key theme) of that book. As usual, it's a very nice piece of writing. (And as usual, Diamond makes some simplifications and bold leaps. Still, it's worth a careful read.)
2. Video: 85 years of life in 40 seconds. Weird, cool, depressing. Supposedly from a Norweigan TV commercial. (Make sure to mute your speakers before the video plays. Someone overdubbed vomit-inducing music.)
3. Tree Goats (and more):
Amazingly enough, it's not a Photoshop trick.
4. Warming climate creates mountains of mushrooms
5. Sputtr - Multi-Search Engine. Handy.
21 Apr 23:55 | Link | Category: Link Dump '08
Hello, World!
Yeah. So, sorry for the silence (not really). I've been busy (kinda). It won't happen again (yes it will).
Someone sent me a snide e-mail informing me that if he wanted to look at a blog that had a post about clever bookshelves every time he browsed to it, he would just go to the bookshelf blog, where he would actually see different bookshelves every day. Ha. Ha.
Anyway. I'm not completely sure where all the time went over the last 3+ weeks, although I have had a few projects, distractions, and sidetracks (yes, you can use that as a noun; I looked it up!) that have sucked away energy and attention. Many of these have had to do with what you might call 'spring cleaning'.
My computer, for example, was completely cluttered with stuff. Computers deal with clutter marvelously, but it was still a problem because I had innumerable "save for later" folders that had been growing for months or even years. It was an unmanageable backlog, so most of it had to go - lots of songs and e-mails went in the trash. I also have hundreds of bookmarks that I wanted to post here along with a few thoughts. There's such a backlog now that I'll never be able to write thoughts. Rather than trash them all, I think I'll just start a "link dump" and post the links with only the briefest of comments (or none at all). There are about 400 bookmarks (pruned down from almost twice that much), so if I post four or five every day, I should clear them out in three months or so.
I've also been getting rid of lots of the physical junk I've accumulated during the last few years. My upcoming move to another state (more on that later) is probably spurring it on. I complained about gathering computer equipment and electronics five years ago, but somehow I've already gathered more. I'm selling what I can (like the networking equipment from last month, and some upcoming items I need to post to eBay and Craigslist), but there are still batteries and print cartridges and broken stuff that are worthless but can't simply be tossed in the trash. Disposing of these items properly is still a major hassle (at least where I live), requiring research and time. I suspect most people probably just throw them away, which is a little unsettling. (Apparently, as many as two billion people are cell phone subscribers. Lay two billion cell phones end to end and they would stretch halfway to the moon -- to say nothing of cell phones already in landfills.)
Anyway.
Expect little bunches of links to start showing up on a semi-regular basis.
21 Apr 20:23 | Link | Category: Site/Life News, Technology & Computing