- 1200 National guard troops sent to Mexican border to watch for illegal entries and drug traffic. The excessive focus on finding and deporting undocumented immigrants detracts from reducing drug demand, building a great nation of hard-working people, and actually finding criminals or terrorists. (article)
- Woman goes into a coma after eating 3 pounds of raw bok choy daily for months as a home cure for diabetes. All health regimens in moderation, please. (article)
- Relieve sleep apnea by strenghtening throat muscles via exercise. "swallowing and chewing motions, placing the tip of the tongue against the front of the palate and sliding it back, and pronouncing certain vowels quickly and continuously" (article)
- Photos of people while they're jumping are immediate and interesting. Try it out. (article)
- Performance artist (Marina Abramovic) sits down all day in the MoMA. People can sit in the chair across from her for as long as they like. A big advance in interactivity from performance art that has typically been very isolated; people are excited to participate. I thought it interesting that everyone who got photo'd across from her looked solemn, thoughtful, or like they were about to cry. Except for a kid who just looked interested. (article)
- Put a server farm in a rural area and you can build a manure processing plant to power it. The manure processing requires lots of heat, which the servers produce in abundance. (article)
- Young people in America are much more open to immigrants and immigration than older people. Contains an excellent graphic - shows top cities where (percentage of adults who are white minus percentage of children who are white) is large. These are areas where adults are likely to feel strongly that they are being invaded while children are likely to see immigration as a fact of life, leading to a large generational gap. (article)
- Basic cotton long pajamas are socially accepted outdoor clothing in Shanghai. Now the Chinese government is trying to ban them. (article)
- US relies heavily on private companies that do their own spying for human intelligence in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Daily briefings from these companies to top defense officials, who use the data to plan strikes. Current contract with them $22 million. Hiring private spies is controversial. (article)
- In 2009 in the U.S., data traffic on cell phones was larger than voice traffic for the first time ever. (article)
- Military leader of Madagascar sleeps with a knife and a grenade under his pillow to fight anyone who might try to stage a coup like the one that brought him to power last year. (article)
- Article examining controversy around recent government action to "execute an American-born cleric far from a combat zone, with no judicial process". Man was a US citizen who was living abroad who advocates attacking the U.S. Paradoxically, a court order would be required to listen to tap his foreign cell phone, but no court order is seen to be required to order his assassination. (article)
- State laws requiring adequate nurse to patient ratios save many lives. These laws are not widespread. (article)
- New federal funding for sex ed programs "meant to encourage teenagers to delay sexual activity but to use protection if they are already active — as half of all high school students are. Lessons on healthy relationships, financial literacy and other life skills are also woven into the program, called PREP for Personal Responsibility Education Program" ... "A 2007 study commissioned by Congress found that students in abstinence programs were just as likely as those in a comparison group to have sex over the next four to six years; 49 percent in both groups remained abstinent. Those who had become sexually active had a similar number of partners, whether they had been through abstinence education or not" (article)
- Article on possible biological/genetic and gender factors influencing fidelity in marriage. In addition, simple pre-planning such as "when X opportunity for infidelity occurs, I will do Y to protect my relationship" leads to dramatically better fidelity indicators. Interesting relationship questions: How much does your partner provide a source of exciting experiences? How much has knowing your partner made you a better person? How much do you see your partner as a way to expand your own capabilities? If you're not happy with any of the answers, consider whether you need to improve rather than your partner. Interesting study: The Stony Brook researchers conducted experiments using activities that stimulated self-expansion. Some couples were given mundane tasks, while others took part in a silly exercise in which they were tied together and asked to crawl on mats, pushing a foam cylinder with their heads. The study was rigged so the couples failed the time limit on the first two tries, but just barely made it on the third, resulting in much celebration. Couples were given relationship tests before and after the experiment. Those who had taken part in the challenging activity posted greater increases in love and relationship satisfaction than those who had not experienced victory together. I wonder if artifically doing that regularly with real-life experiences would be beneficial? (article)
- David Belt, innovative experiential artist. Last year he turned large, clean dumpsters into covert party swimming pools in NYC. This year he built a secret installation where you can break bottles prior to recycling by throwing them at a big plexiglass wall (with pressure sensing lights that go off when bottles hit). Your friends, enemies, significant others can stand behind the wall and you can work out some of your aggression if that's your thing. Supposedly very theraputic, even though it's not my style to throw at someone, I'd dig the idea of the throwing in general. (article)
- If the bailout's goal was to help big banks be profitable, it worked. 4 large banks had a usually rare "perfect quarter" where they ended up profitable on every single day of the quarter. If the bailout's goal was to help teh economy overall rather than the specific shareholders and executives of those banks, then it likely didn't succeed as well. (article)
- Discussion about the differencese between food allergies and food intolerance and how many people think they have food allergies even though they don't. (article)
- Interesting sounding documentary on Finland's plans to bury its nuclear waste deep in bedrock for > 100,000 years (3000 generations, twenty times the current age of the pyramids), essentially so long that the place will likely be totally forgotten and any possible warnings we could leave would be misunderstood or destroyed by then. The film team joked that maybe they would dig the big tunnel and find out that someone 100,000 years ago had already buried their radioactive waste and we were just about to find it. It seems like we ought to figure out how to deal with energy-generation by-products before we build more power plants (nuclear fuel, coal pollution, incinerator rock/goo) or go with renewable alternatives that have fewer byproducts (wind, solar, geothermal, hydroelectric). (article)
- Article showing that tall, slim, attractive people are convicted less often than short, obese, unattractive people. Author seems a bit confused about causality though. (article)
- High-resolution 3D map of NYC based on multiple fly-overs by sensor equipped planes. Plans to use the data for emergency response and environmental planning (including sunlight / shadows from large buildings across seasons, times of day). Plus, it's kind of awesome. article)
- Indoor vertical gardens require lots of attention, but make a wall look stunning. You can buy kits for it. (article)
- Brain + age: Mid-aged brains (40-65) have decreased short-term memory recall and slower processing speed. However, brain is better at many things: "Inductive reasoning and problem solving — the logical use of your brain and actually getting to solutions. We get the gist of an argument better. We’re better at sizing up a situation and reaching a creative solution" ... plus better social expertise and better financial judgments. Physical exercise is the one thing that is a sure-thing to help brain health (less solid evidence for mental puzzles, etc.). Brain continues to grow, change, develop during middle-age unlike previous theories that thought it was just in decline. (article)
- Study correlates more TV time for 2 to 5 year olds with lower grades later in school, less healthy. Controlled for parental education, single-family households, etc. Take-home message is less TV for developing brains. (article)
- Over half of studied university students went tanning and 20% showed classic signs of addiction to their tanning. (article)
- Article on 50 years of birth-control pill, focusing on how its introduction changed the regulatory landscape for medicine. article)
- Missing parts of silent film "Metropolis" found in Argentine film archive, leading to first release of the complete film since it originally played. I'm pretty sure that even having the missing pieces won't make the film make sense for a first-time viewing. (article)
- Location-aware social media software first used to track political violence in Kenya now being used to track the BP oil spill. Eventually, this sort of location/behavioral tracking will be common.(article)
- Children's Tylenol and other meds recalled. (article)
- Ironically, but understandably, the previous generation of immigrants in Britain (including Muslim, black, and Asian immigrants) are likely to oppose new immigration from other EU countries, including Poland. (article)
- Awesome house in Costa Rica. Land cost $72k, construction of the house was $135k. Backyard is primal rain forest. (article)
- Marketing + surveillance / data collection. Web coupons with embedded information about how you found them (sometimes including your facebook info and name) didn't surpise me. Location-targeted ads that show up when you're next to a certain clothing rack also not surprising (although further along than I had thought). Amazon keeping track of everything you've ever bought and everyone you've ever sent something to and everything you've even looked at - not a big surprise. The fact that you can't get a copy of that for yourself or get a copy of your phone transcripts with customer service (they're always recording and they keep the transcript), or your flight history or your book purchases using your discount card except for legal reasons was a bit more interesting. The fact that all data collection is essentially unregulated also more interesting (most regulations are suggestions at this point). Most surprising: that stores routinely track your movements through the store, what you look at, how long you stand where, and everything you touch. Whoa. (article)
- Proliferation of vending machines for non-typical items: beauty products, hair straighteners, gold coins, Proactiv skin medicine, Bestbuy / Apple products, movies (redBox). Takes the self-checkout at the grocery store to a new level. Minimal human staff and footprint keep costs very low. They also have less theft than traditional stores. They can be easily moved. Customers like that they don't have to interact with any humans to buy things. Also, the fancy displays can lure customers and improve the user experience by tracking what is typed / clicked. Predict the trend that these will become much more prevalent. Each machine costs between $3k and $20k+. Japan has one vending machine per 23 people. (article)
- New study shows that it's not how much you actually exercise that impacts how well you sleep, but rather whether you think you are exercising enough or a lot. (article)
- Article on truly good pretzels vs. meh pretzels. (article)
- List of tips for refunds / compensation based on poor quality: Take and show pictures, discuss the issue with the manager in private rather than screaming, list your complaints but don't offer a remedy - the manager will usually offer something more than you'd request, have your credit card company stop the charges if you've been outright cheated, stay on the line with phone reps - they usually can't hang up on you and are tracked based on # calls completed, ask phone rep for advice on how they would do it to get useful tips, call or write the CEO or other high-level people. (article)
- Horrific account of violent attack suggests running, fighting, screaming rather than cooperating with some attackers (avoid this article if you don't want to read the detailed, specific account of the attack) (article)
- Too much time on your hands when: you follow a celebrity's tweets and then criticize them for grammer / spelling. (article)
- Paying for goods / services via cellphone(article)
- Extreme adventure races, this time by "Tough Mudder" include $100 race across 7-mile obstacle course of "muddy hills, cold water, and flaming bales of straw" (article)
- Why many D.O.D officials hate / ban powerpoint. What's accurately identified as bad: when people use it to address a problem only on the surface or focus on things that don't clarify the situation, or when it displaces discussion. Where I think they overlook benefits: Breaking down a very complex situation into a more basic, understandable concept allows you to then build back up to complexities. My opinion: train people how to use powerpoint better (and generally communicate better) rather than banning it altogether. article)
- Saving endangered world languages: by talking to immigrants in NYC(article)
- Some of the difficulties associated with electronic medical records(article)
- Slushies lower your core temperature, allowing you to endure exercise longer. Apparently, one major cause of exhuastion is the heart working extra hard to cool the skin AND power muscles after the core warms up too much. Slushies rather than cold water since they can be below freezing due to the extra sugar, although the general idea is just to lower your core temperature before the race / exercise. (article)
- Decreasing pay for cultural / art executives (article)
- Paying low-wage humans to defeat the anti-bot pictures on web pages called captchas. (article)
- Museums going into schools rather than the other way around. Done via traveling programs, video conferences, internet. (article)
- First steps in dealing with poverty in Japan after years of believing in lack of inequality(article)
- More details on December network attack on Google - one target was the source code for their password / authentication system. (article)
- Immigration, radicalization, and tough legislation as a way to force moderates out or to the right.(article)
- "The world's largest long-term study of the health of children aims to track 100,000 babies [from before delivery] until they turn 21."(article)
- Some Palestinians advocating non-violent protest for their cause. I'm in favor.(article)
- Photo-documenting everything you eat. I admit to having taken pictures of food before, but in moderation please. And don't disturb the other patrons. (article)
26 May 2010
Late May Link Dump
06 April 2010
April 6 - Linkdump
More limits on nuclear weapons - I'm all in favor.
If you're working for a for-profit company, your internship is probably required to be paid.
Major philanthropy: Ford foundation $100M for art spaces in the US. If it were me, I'd target small installations / locations throughout unused urban and rural spaces rather than a couple of big galleries.
Gizmo emits vibrations that break in a stringed instrument faster
Site that translates planetary rotations into sound so you can listen to the symphony of the planets
Studying literature's effect on brain activity and coming up with theories about evolution+stories
Periodic table that lists other periodic tables - fairly clever, let me browse to some interesting tables.
Tapping on your arm as an input device, reminds me of sixth sense system. Based on vibrations in skin / bone / muscle picked up by an armband.
Online course in positive psychology (mix of self-help and academia; not for credit).
The benefits of hiring overqualified personnel, despite the risks they'll move on quickly
Exfiltrating information on life, government, and society in North Korea - by training those who temporarily leave to transmit information via cell phones.
Genome and surprising reproductive info on the famous truffle.
Underground hangouts, eateries in Paris.
Passover in the White House
Tongue-in-cheek competition for art-handlers who do all the lifting and positioning for works in museums - I had never thought about how hard it would be to put some abstract works together without instructions.
Pay caps don't cause massive talent flight (85% of executives still around after 2 years of pay caps).
The Catholic church accepts some Eastern Orthodox style congregations under its umbrella. In some of those, marriage for clergy is acceptable.
In depth look at early in-vitro scientist pioneer.
Results only work environment - ROWE. I'm a strong believer. Paying attention to what people get done rather than how long you have people "present" at work.
If you have a genuine windows box, Microsoft will give you free antivirus coverage. Trying to reduce their image as flaw-prone, which works out well for us monopolized consumers.
Towns go to extreme lengths to attract Google to build their free high-speed internet demo at their location. Stunts, youtube videos, renaming of towns, etc.
U-2 stealth spy plane gets new cameras that make it an ongoing key technology for providing imagery for warzones.
http://www.thelivingplanet.com/ - now with penguins!
Sculptures of a man on different rooftops lead people to think he's a jumper.
Small nuclear reactors coming online to power cities. As soon as someone figures out how to deal with radioactive waste awesomely, I can't get behind really large nuclear power generation capacities.
Sleep deprivation among doctors. System has improved a bit, but is still pretty extreme.
Those who talk about important topics tend to be happier than those who just shoot the breeze. Perhaps because substantive discussions lead to connections with others, while talking about the weather doesn't.
LDS-oriented -blog- pseudo publication dealing with IR. This article is about Mormon thoughts on war and peace. In-depth, well written, academic-ish.
Life-style audits on South African officials who appear to live beyond their means. Basic anti-fraud sleuthing combined with political hunts.
Making everything a one-touch kitchen appliance sells well. Sure, they're convenient, but it's not much fun, is it? (I like cooking).
Op-ed on steadily increasing demand for government services. Understandably, tax increases to pay for it lag behind.
Drug treats permanently clenched fingers can now be used for other bent organs that cause pain / problems. After 50 years of looking for something else it could do.
Words and emotions related to cancer. Battle? Triumph? Grind?
States pass legislation saying that particular issues are state issues. Somehow it seems ineffective.
One governor slashes spending rather than increasing taxes to pay for deficits.
Imputing names, ages, and social security numbers from information publicly available on social media sites. Remember - set your privacy settings to the minimum necessary and don't put information on the web you don't want certain people to see. Oh yeah, and we need some cryptographically robust standards that everyone can adopt for dealing with personal or sensitive information.
The line of command at the Pentagon if people die no longer points to personal friends, but is restored to its traditional order.
Transmitting power underwater along rivers / canals instead of overhead or underground. Seems like a good idea from the brief discussion.
How to make your own organic light-emitting diode with a basic chemistry lab.
You can now paypal someone money by bumping your smart phone against theirs. This is a nice step forward toward making it easy to squirt money, text, images, etc. at people you are in physical proximity to. Needs security to prevent putting a reader under the subway seat.
Fixing insanely broken CDC bureaucracy (introduced over 7 years during Bush tenure) in one quick push.
3d printers now able to build buildings - fuse sand with epoxy
Preserving digitally created content is a major challenge for archivists. You feel this pain any time you find an old floppy disk lying around. It gets much worse the longer the time gap is.
C-span now available online for all of archives.
Particular article about corporate bonds up for refinance leading to further economic pressure. Shows that timing is important as far as who gets bailed out and who learns to plan.
Final Fantasy 13 reviewed. Beautiful but overly scripted and sequential.
Driver ignores road warnings and follows google map instructions into a lake. D'oh!
Volunteers take it upon themselves to transfer mucho old federal video online.
Small business leader suggests that at some point after other options, you just have to fire particularly negative employees.
Some technical schools intentionally misrepresent job prospects to attract people during hard economic times.
Use much less detergent in your clothes washer.
Structured recess involves kids, eliminates fights, and is relatively inexpensive.
Sites about charitable giving
http://wisegiving.org/help_for_donors.html
http://charitynavigator.org/
http://www.legal-aid.org/en/home.aspx
http://www.endhomelessness.org/
Food Sites
This one tells you what to make based on what's in your kitchen: http://www.supercook.com/
This one has a list of recipes: http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/Main.aspx
Here's another one with recipes, but you can only access some for free: http://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipehome.asp
Awesome food chart that tells you which items to store where. Print it and put it on your fridge.
If you're working for a for-profit company, your internship is probably required to be paid.
Major philanthropy: Ford foundation $100M for art spaces in the US. If it were me, I'd target small installations / locations throughout unused urban and rural spaces rather than a couple of big galleries.
Gizmo emits vibrations that break in a stringed instrument faster
Site that translates planetary rotations into sound so you can listen to the symphony of the planets
Studying literature's effect on brain activity and coming up with theories about evolution+stories
Periodic table that lists other periodic tables - fairly clever, let me browse to some interesting tables.
Tapping on your arm as an input device, reminds me of sixth sense system. Based on vibrations in skin / bone / muscle picked up by an armband.
Online course in positive psychology (mix of self-help and academia; not for credit).
The benefits of hiring overqualified personnel, despite the risks they'll move on quickly
Exfiltrating information on life, government, and society in North Korea - by training those who temporarily leave to transmit information via cell phones.
Genome and surprising reproductive info on the famous truffle.
Underground hangouts, eateries in Paris.
Passover in the White House
Tongue-in-cheek competition for art-handlers who do all the lifting and positioning for works in museums - I had never thought about how hard it would be to put some abstract works together without instructions.
Pay caps don't cause massive talent flight (85% of executives still around after 2 years of pay caps).
The Catholic church accepts some Eastern Orthodox style congregations under its umbrella. In some of those, marriage for clergy is acceptable.
In depth look at early in-vitro scientist pioneer.
Results only work environment - ROWE. I'm a strong believer. Paying attention to what people get done rather than how long you have people "present" at work.
If you have a genuine windows box, Microsoft will give you free antivirus coverage. Trying to reduce their image as flaw-prone, which works out well for us monopolized consumers.
Towns go to extreme lengths to attract Google to build their free high-speed internet demo at their location. Stunts, youtube videos, renaming of towns, etc.
U-2 stealth spy plane gets new cameras that make it an ongoing key technology for providing imagery for warzones.
http://www.thelivingplanet.com/ - now with penguins!
Sculptures of a man on different rooftops lead people to think he's a jumper.
Small nuclear reactors coming online to power cities. As soon as someone figures out how to deal with radioactive waste awesomely, I can't get behind really large nuclear power generation capacities.
Sleep deprivation among doctors. System has improved a bit, but is still pretty extreme.
Those who talk about important topics tend to be happier than those who just shoot the breeze. Perhaps because substantive discussions lead to connections with others, while talking about the weather doesn't.
LDS-oriented -blog- pseudo publication dealing with IR. This article is about Mormon thoughts on war and peace. In-depth, well written, academic-ish.
Life-style audits on South African officials who appear to live beyond their means. Basic anti-fraud sleuthing combined with political hunts.
Making everything a one-touch kitchen appliance sells well. Sure, they're convenient, but it's not much fun, is it? (I like cooking).
Op-ed on steadily increasing demand for government services. Understandably, tax increases to pay for it lag behind.
Drug treats permanently clenched fingers can now be used for other bent organs that cause pain / problems. After 50 years of looking for something else it could do.
Words and emotions related to cancer. Battle? Triumph? Grind?
States pass legislation saying that particular issues are state issues. Somehow it seems ineffective.
One governor slashes spending rather than increasing taxes to pay for deficits.
Imputing names, ages, and social security numbers from information publicly available on social media sites. Remember - set your privacy settings to the minimum necessary and don't put information on the web you don't want certain people to see. Oh yeah, and we need some cryptographically robust standards that everyone can adopt for dealing with personal or sensitive information.
The line of command at the Pentagon if people die no longer points to personal friends, but is restored to its traditional order.
Transmitting power underwater along rivers / canals instead of overhead or underground. Seems like a good idea from the brief discussion.
How to make your own organic light-emitting diode with a basic chemistry lab.
You can now paypal someone money by bumping your smart phone against theirs. This is a nice step forward toward making it easy to squirt money, text, images, etc. at people you are in physical proximity to. Needs security to prevent putting a reader under the subway seat.
Fixing insanely broken CDC bureaucracy (introduced over 7 years during Bush tenure) in one quick push.
3d printers now able to build buildings - fuse sand with epoxy
Preserving digitally created content is a major challenge for archivists. You feel this pain any time you find an old floppy disk lying around. It gets much worse the longer the time gap is.
C-span now available online for all of archives.
Particular article about corporate bonds up for refinance leading to further economic pressure. Shows that timing is important as far as who gets bailed out and who learns to plan.
Final Fantasy 13 reviewed. Beautiful but overly scripted and sequential.
Driver ignores road warnings and follows google map instructions into a lake. D'oh!
Volunteers take it upon themselves to transfer mucho old federal video online.
Small business leader suggests that at some point after other options, you just have to fire particularly negative employees.
Some technical schools intentionally misrepresent job prospects to attract people during hard economic times.
Use much less detergent in your clothes washer.
Structured recess involves kids, eliminates fights, and is relatively inexpensive.
Sites about charitable giving
http://wisegiving.org/help_
http://charitynavigator.org/
http://www.legal-aid.org/en/
http://www.endhomelessness.
Food Sites
This one tells you what to make based on what's in your kitchen: http://www.supercook.com/
This one has a list of recipes: http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/
Here's another one with recipes, but you can only access some for free: http://www.
Awesome food chart that tells you which items to store where. Print it and put it on your fridge.
01 February 2010
Feb 1
Feb 1
University of Pennsylvania now offers a Masters degree in "Applied Positive Psychology" - focusing on how to achieve mental awesomeness for a large slice of the population rather than traditional psychology which ameliorates negative mental challenges for a very small slice of the population. Link
List of the best times to buy things: Link
Hoping some of the proposed changes to NCLB get through Link
Performance art at the Guggenhim Link
Some books on happiness. And not just the "believe it, receive it" kind. Link
Info on acceptance and laws about electric-assisted bikes Link
New dye-based solar conversion technology Link
Data collection gets smaller, smarter, and more able to use non-battery power. Forward looking. (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/business/31unboxed.html)
Feb 2
Some churches sponsor martial arts to get young men involved Link
Trying to curb military spending even as the budget grows Link
When you talk about the past, you lean back. When you talk about the future, you lean forward. The links between thinking abstract concepts and phsyical actions. Link
Russian government razes some housing. Residents get mad. Reminds me of the beginning of hitchhiker's guide. Link
Amazing food in the most basic setting. In this case a hole in the wall noodle shop. Link
A look into the life of a Chinese hacker. Link
Iguanas walked to Tonga rather than floating there on vegetation mats Link
Interesting snapshot of the mental health system.
Some info on treatment options for migraines.
Ideas on making learning fun and effective. Applicable to home school and public school.
Early chemistry on hot flashes.
Making fast food less bad for you.
Feb 3
Difficulties of training very low skill people as police in Afghanistan
Making people who possess child porn pay the victims
DNI says terror attack attempts certain
Homeowners whose home's values fall below 75% of what they owe consider stop paying even if they can afford to
Feb 8
A single arts donor has extreme control over the LA arts scene
FDA tries to fix serving sizes.
Letting kids pay for things they get online by going to the 7-11 w/ cash.
Using chemistry to match up prospective daters.
Kindle to sell $2 micro-versions of some books.
Upcoming budget cliffs for schools after the stimulus money runs out. Poor planning?
Beijing olympic area no longer in use.
Article about downtown SLC development by LDS church ($1B).
Article about large number of fights in the Philippines from bad Karaoke of Frank Sinatra's "My Way"
Dating culture in colleges with a 65% female student body (the norm). Apply to Bare Branches theories in China / India.
When reporting a doctor's malpractice got a nurse in legal trouble
Early-college programs extend to lower-income students. Yay.
Extremely deadly highways in Afghanistan
Plotting your photographs with math. Very awesome images.
Google plans automated on-the-fly language translation for phone users. Wow!
Slow motion of a water droplet sitting on the water, then collapsing into a smaller bouncing droplet.
A whole site dedicated to oddly-specific signs. Like this "don't park here or our elephant will trample you" sign. w00t!
Making cloud-computing power available to scientists
Google asked NSA for help researching hacks.
Bad communication between moms and nannies
Diatribe about Palin and Edwards being unethical
Infighting at Microsoft
Lobbying to kill student loan reforms
Art of Vietnam
How Victorian women invented photo collage way earlier than was thought
Football related concussions known to cause lasting brain damage. For the last 80 years. About ignoring science for profit.
Windmills frozen in colder climate.
Actual data on dinosaur color.
$700 ruggedized solar lighting solution
Feb 9
NYTimes readers email online content that is positive and intelligent. Loved this particular quote from the article:
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have intensively studied the New York Times list of most-e-mailed articles, checking it every 15 minutes for more than six months, analyzing the content of thousands of articles and controlling for factors like the placement in the paper or on the Web home page.
The results are surprising — well, to me, anyway. I would have hypothesized that there are two basic strategies for making the most-e-mailed list. One, which I’ve happily employed, is to write anything about sex. The other, which I’m still working on, is to write an article headlined: “How Your Pet’s Diet Threatens Your Marriage, and Why It’s Bush’s Fault.”
Stats on how much Americans spend on digital connectivity
A man who studied law in the prison law library and became a great lawyer
Japan coming to grips with military deals with the US
Bitter divisions cause political deadlocks in Nineveh in Iraq. Democracy has a ways to go. "stop slapping each other with fish"
Turning best selling novels into graphic novels with print runs way higher than normal. Reminds me of someone who turned an electrical engineering manual into a graphic novel.
Micro philanthropy. And making it fun and silly! Give people $100 to give away and make them report back on what they did.
During populist election years, an extremist will draw the incumbent further into radical territory. In this case, it's McCain.
Video game design principles, discussed over Mass Effect 2.
Article about transportation secretary who said "stop driving it" about Toyota cars and then back tracked. Thoughts about staying "on script" as a public figure.
New tech claims to remove fat by cooling and lasering - expensive but totally unbacked by evidence.
Ethnic mixes in Vancouver lead to great food.
Urban planning to turn abandoned roads and public-owned parcels into parks and usable space.
Alcoholism in Scotland and the attraction of caffeinated wine (Buckfast Tonic Wine)
Using FMRIs to communicate with a "vegetative" patient
Creating key copies from long distance photos of keys.
Lock picking using tin foil with slits in it.
Removing stripped screws using rubber bands.
If the hole is too big for the screw, use toothpicks or golf tees + glue / epoxy to make the hole smaller
Kiva.org is a website allowing you to make micro loans directly to distant entrepreneurs and then track their progress. Donate $25 and up. Local microfinance NGOs actually oversee the donor repayback.
Online site that promotes story telling. K may be interested in massify.com / behance.com for film writing.
Feb 10
Scorpion robot pre-cursor
Hexapod robot with more organic movement
The geek group in MI allows people to come build prototypes
Free app to let you print a large poster one 8x11 sheet at a time
How to make hospital corners w/ sheets. Never could quite figure out what they were supposed to be.
Guy makes art using a pendulum with remote-controlled paint dispensers. Seems to have made some other great art.
Changing behavior by making things fun. Set up as a competition by Volkswagen. Example: Making a staircase into a playable piano to make people walk up and down it.
DSM V out today. Woo.
Source code for genetic algorithm car program written in flash w/ demonstration animation released. Tried tweaking the mass, friction, gravity, course, etc. I'd like to see all of those in one spot. Fun to play with since I know some action script.
Woman with many rarely seen illnesses.
Psychology of color for web design.
Relative age of parents at conception correlated with autism rates.
Site for determining what kind of learner you are (visual / auditory / motion)
Competitive social winnowing site for writers (think public slush pile). Sponsored by Harper Collins.
Interview with Michael Pollan, our national food champion. Interestingly, he says that HFCS is about as bad for you as sugar.
Linguistic development diagnosis.
Feb 11
The rise and fall and rise of food stamps - political analysis
Google to build demo gigabit/second consumer fiber network to show that it can be done
An interior designer living in 178 square feet chooses to fill it with some stuff he never uses.
Firefox extension that minimizes memory use by keeping unused tabs unloaded till you click on them.
Feb 15
PhD shoots people after being denied tenure.
Texas board of education - putting current partisan politics into the educational curriculum
Dick Cheney vs. Joe Biden on national security
Electric cars, charging stations, physical infrastructure
Performance art on columns, ceilings. Climbing in and out of clothes.
When it gets too snowy, consider hooking your car up to tank treads
Using art to make the gigantic numbers involved with waste and not recycling a bit more understandable
Showing how leaf vein patterns work with glow in the dark dye
Debating whether people arrested as terrorists should be read their rights
Feb 23
Some cancers can be treated extremely well using genetic targeting
12 step programs other than for alcoholics
James Wilson may have produced the original draft of the constitution
Secular vs. religious reasoning in public debate
Eating slowly makes you more full, leading to fewer calories.
Jewish woman with 2000 descendants by the time she died at 93 years old
White dwarfs and supernovas
Supportive touch enhances outcomes
Getting feedback from the community = crowd sourcing. Example: http://www.quirky.com/ for product design. Ex. http://www.yelp.com/salt-lake-city-ut for dining / shopping. Ex. http://www.angieslist.com for reviewing contractors / doctors (paid subscription though).
On small business strategies and lockable mailboxes
Airlines and the rapid unbundling of fees associated with tickets
Philippines, private militias, and using them to keep power.
Multi-year unemployment
Environmental plan for the great lakes
New proposed reading and math standards for public schools
Making your own underwater microphone. Also includes sound samples.
How to access my work email away from work.
A robot that tries to draw based on how artists draw. Still slow, not super accurate.
Apparently, the original Willy Wonka had a weird color palette that still worked. Color theory.
Cyber warfare wargames. Interesting but there are so many scenarios to choose from.
Architecture: looks like a monolith.
Using data mining to suggest improvements for those in the online dating game (self-referential).
Extensive trojan / botnet infection.
National parks let retirees stay there free in their RVs in exchange for maintenance work
Seriously intellectual podcast. Like an hour on the 1500s siege of Munster.
BBC documentary host admits on-air to euthanizing his male partner
Education: Early college
Those convicted of animal abuse in California will go on a public registry (names / addresses)
Arizona working to build a space hub with larger hangers, runways for virgin galactic.
Food: Restaurants that are open extra late to cater to people getting off work from a restaurant
Opinion piece on global climate instability
DNA forensics show that King Tut probably killed by malaria at 14.
Set of descriptions of Jackson Hole Wyoming rapids I paddled through on a canoe when I was a teen 1 2 3
Advertising: Google now allowing businesses to place ads on google maps like a yellow pages
Using localized plasma to clean hands safely in 4 seconds for hospital settings.
Canadians play hockey mostly left-handed. Americans play right-handed. Overall handedness isn't different between the countries.
How sports help girls in the long run.
98-year-old barber gives a fast, good cut
Tea-party political analysis. Linked to Patriot movement.
Travel
Cheap ways to book travel. Sites include kayak.com as a starting point, http://itasoftware.com/ to check other possible routes (log in as guest), http://www.cfares.com/ where you can get rebates if you book with them ($50 membership pays itself off after ~4 flights), flight price prediction at http://www.bing.com/travel/ and http://www.yapta.com/. For international travel, check http://www.vayama.com/ Next time I book a flight, I'll check the forecasting sites before booking. If you want to know what seats to pick, log on to http://seatexpert.com or http://www.seatguru.com/ What a lot of sites!
Another discussion here suggesting momondo.com for small carriers and lastminute.com for Europe.
University of Pennsylvania now offers a Masters degree in "Applied Positive Psychology" - focusing on how to achieve mental awesomeness for a large slice of the population rather than traditional psychology which ameliorates negative mental challenges for a very small slice of the population. Link
List of the best times to buy things: Link
Hoping some of the proposed changes to NCLB get through Link
Performance art at the Guggenhim Link
Some books on happiness. And not just the "believe it, receive it" kind. Link
Info on acceptance and laws about electric-assisted bikes Link
New dye-based solar conversion technology Link
Data collection gets smaller, smarter, and more able to use non-battery power. Forward looking. (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/business/31unboxed.html)
Feb 2
Some churches sponsor martial arts to get young men involved Link
Trying to curb military spending even as the budget grows Link
When you talk about the past, you lean back. When you talk about the future, you lean forward. The links between thinking abstract concepts and phsyical actions. Link
Russian government razes some housing. Residents get mad. Reminds me of the beginning of hitchhiker's guide. Link
Amazing food in the most basic setting. In this case a hole in the wall noodle shop. Link
A look into the life of a Chinese hacker. Link
Iguanas walked to Tonga rather than floating there on vegetation mats Link
Interesting snapshot of the mental health system.
Some info on treatment options for migraines.
Ideas on making learning fun and effective. Applicable to home school and public school.
Early chemistry on hot flashes.
Making fast food less bad for you.
Feb 3
Difficulties of training very low skill people as police in Afghanistan
Making people who possess child porn pay the victims
DNI says terror attack attempts certain
Homeowners whose home's values fall below 75% of what they owe consider stop paying even if they can afford to
Feb 8
A single arts donor has extreme control over the LA arts scene
FDA tries to fix serving sizes.
Letting kids pay for things they get online by going to the 7-11 w/ cash.
Using chemistry to match up prospective daters.
Kindle to sell $2 micro-versions of some books.
Upcoming budget cliffs for schools after the stimulus money runs out. Poor planning?
Beijing olympic area no longer in use.
Article about downtown SLC development by LDS church ($1B).
Article about large number of fights in the Philippines from bad Karaoke of Frank Sinatra's "My Way"
Dating culture in colleges with a 65% female student body (the norm). Apply to Bare Branches theories in China / India.
When reporting a doctor's malpractice got a nurse in legal trouble
Early-college programs extend to lower-income students. Yay.
Extremely deadly highways in Afghanistan
Plotting your photographs with math. Very awesome images.
Google plans automated on-the-fly language translation for phone users. Wow!
Slow motion of a water droplet sitting on the water, then collapsing into a smaller bouncing droplet.
A whole site dedicated to oddly-specific signs. Like this "don't park here or our elephant will trample you" sign. w00t!
Making cloud-computing power available to scientists
Google asked NSA for help researching hacks.
Bad communication between moms and nannies
Diatribe about Palin and Edwards being unethical
Infighting at Microsoft
Lobbying to kill student loan reforms
Art of Vietnam
How Victorian women invented photo collage way earlier than was thought
Football related concussions known to cause lasting brain damage. For the last 80 years. About ignoring science for profit.
Windmills frozen in colder climate.
Actual data on dinosaur color.
$700 ruggedized solar lighting solution
Feb 9
NYTimes readers email online content that is positive and intelligent. Loved this particular quote from the article:
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have intensively studied the New York Times list of most-e-mailed articles, checking it every 15 minutes for more than six months, analyzing the content of thousands of articles and controlling for factors like the placement in the paper or on the Web home page.
The results are surprising — well, to me, anyway. I would have hypothesized that there are two basic strategies for making the most-e-mailed list. One, which I’ve happily employed, is to write anything about sex. The other, which I’m still working on, is to write an article headlined: “How Your Pet’s Diet Threatens Your Marriage, and Why It’s Bush’s Fault.”
Stats on how much Americans spend on digital connectivity
A man who studied law in the prison law library and became a great lawyer
Japan coming to grips with military deals with the US
Bitter divisions cause political deadlocks in Nineveh in Iraq. Democracy has a ways to go. "stop slapping each other with fish"
Turning best selling novels into graphic novels with print runs way higher than normal. Reminds me of someone who turned an electrical engineering manual into a graphic novel.
Micro philanthropy. And making it fun and silly! Give people $100 to give away and make them report back on what they did.
During populist election years, an extremist will draw the incumbent further into radical territory. In this case, it's McCain.
Video game design principles, discussed over Mass Effect 2.
Article about transportation secretary who said "stop driving it" about Toyota cars and then back tracked. Thoughts about staying "on script" as a public figure.
New tech claims to remove fat by cooling and lasering - expensive but totally unbacked by evidence.
Ethnic mixes in Vancouver lead to great food.
Urban planning to turn abandoned roads and public-owned parcels into parks and usable space.
Alcoholism in Scotland and the attraction of caffeinated wine (Buckfast Tonic Wine)
Using FMRIs to communicate with a "vegetative" patient
Creating key copies from long distance photos of keys.
Lock picking using tin foil with slits in it.
Removing stripped screws using rubber bands.
If the hole is too big for the screw, use toothpicks or golf tees + glue / epoxy to make the hole smaller
Kiva.org is a website allowing you to make micro loans directly to distant entrepreneurs and then track their progress. Donate $25 and up. Local microfinance NGOs actually oversee the donor repayback.
Online site that promotes story telling. K may be interested in massify.com / behance.com for film writing.
Feb 10
Scorpion robot pre-cursor
Hexapod robot with more organic movement
The geek group in MI allows people to come build prototypes
Free app to let you print a large poster one 8x11 sheet at a time
How to make hospital corners w/ sheets. Never could quite figure out what they were supposed to be.
Guy makes art using a pendulum with remote-controlled paint dispensers. Seems to have made some other great art.
Changing behavior by making things fun. Set up as a competition by Volkswagen. Example: Making a staircase into a playable piano to make people walk up and down it.
DSM V out today. Woo.
Source code for genetic algorithm car program written in flash w/ demonstration animation released. Tried tweaking the mass, friction, gravity, course, etc. I'd like to see all of those in one spot. Fun to play with since I know some action script.
Woman with many rarely seen illnesses.
Psychology of color for web design.
Relative age of parents at conception correlated with autism rates.
Site for determining what kind of learner you are (visual / auditory / motion)
Competitive social winnowing site for writers (think public slush pile). Sponsored by Harper Collins.
Interview with Michael Pollan, our national food champion. Interestingly, he says that HFCS is about as bad for you as sugar.
Linguistic development diagnosis.
Feb 11
The rise and fall and rise of food stamps - political analysis
Google to build demo gigabit/second consumer fiber network to show that it can be done
An interior designer living in 178 square feet chooses to fill it with some stuff he never uses.
Firefox extension that minimizes memory use by keeping unused tabs unloaded till you click on them.
Feb 15
PhD shoots people after being denied tenure.
Texas board of education - putting current partisan politics into the educational curriculum
Dick Cheney vs. Joe Biden on national security
Electric cars, charging stations, physical infrastructure
Performance art on columns, ceilings. Climbing in and out of clothes.
When it gets too snowy, consider hooking your car up to tank treads
Using art to make the gigantic numbers involved with waste and not recycling a bit more understandable
Showing how leaf vein patterns work with glow in the dark dye
Debating whether people arrested as terrorists should be read their rights
Feb 23
Some cancers can be treated extremely well using genetic targeting
12 step programs other than for alcoholics
James Wilson may have produced the original draft of the constitution
Secular vs. religious reasoning in public debate
Eating slowly makes you more full, leading to fewer calories.
Jewish woman with 2000 descendants by the time she died at 93 years old
White dwarfs and supernovas
Supportive touch enhances outcomes
Getting feedback from the community = crowd sourcing. Example: http://www.quirky.com/ for product design. Ex. http://www.yelp.com/salt-lake-city-ut for dining / shopping. Ex. http://www.angieslist.com for reviewing contractors / doctors (paid subscription though).
On small business strategies and lockable mailboxes
Airlines and the rapid unbundling of fees associated with tickets
Philippines, private militias, and using them to keep power.
Multi-year unemployment
Environmental plan for the great lakes
New proposed reading and math standards for public schools
Making your own underwater microphone. Also includes sound samples.
How to access my work email away from work.
A robot that tries to draw based on how artists draw. Still slow, not super accurate.
Apparently, the original Willy Wonka had a weird color palette that still worked. Color theory.
Cyber warfare wargames. Interesting but there are so many scenarios to choose from.
Architecture: looks like a monolith.
Using data mining to suggest improvements for those in the online dating game (self-referential).
Extensive trojan / botnet infection.
National parks let retirees stay there free in their RVs in exchange for maintenance work
Seriously intellectual podcast. Like an hour on the 1500s siege of Munster.
BBC documentary host admits on-air to euthanizing his male partner
Education: Early college
Those convicted of animal abuse in California will go on a public registry (names / addresses)
Arizona working to build a space hub with larger hangers, runways for virgin galactic.
Food: Restaurants that are open extra late to cater to people getting off work from a restaurant
Opinion piece on global climate instability
DNA forensics show that King Tut probably killed by malaria at 14.
Set of descriptions of Jackson Hole Wyoming rapids I paddled through on a canoe when I was a teen 1 2 3
Advertising: Google now allowing businesses to place ads on google maps like a yellow pages
Using localized plasma to clean hands safely in 4 seconds for hospital settings.
Canadians play hockey mostly left-handed. Americans play right-handed. Overall handedness isn't different between the countries.
How sports help girls in the long run.
98-year-old barber gives a fast, good cut
Tea-party political analysis. Linked to Patriot movement.
Travel
Cheap ways to book travel. Sites include kayak.com as a starting point, http://itasoftware.com/ to check other possible routes (log in as guest), http://www.cfares.com/ where you can get rebates if you book with them ($50 membership pays itself off after ~4 flights), flight price prediction at http://www.bing.com/travel/ and http://www.yapta.com/. For international travel, check http://www.vayama.com/ Next time I book a flight, I'll check the forecasting sites before booking. If you want to know what seats to pick, log on to http://seatexpert.com or http://www.seatguru.com/ What a lot of sites!
Another discussion here suggesting momondo.com for small carriers and lastminute.com for Europe.
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