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Friday, December 31, 2010

Spokeo may know more about you than you realize

[WTF. This site knows WAY too much about you. -egg]

Spokeo may know more about you than you realize: "spokeo.jpg

is a new site that claims to not be your 'grandma's phonebook.' This is because it pulls a ton of info about you from all over the web into one place. And I mean a ton. More than you might be comfortable with in fact. But luckily you can remove yourself from their database by following these simple instructions. Thanks for the heads up on that one Chris.


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Bohemien - 2010

Bohemien - 2010: "
Bohemien new shooting ant poster art"

Audiophiles

Audiophiles: "For years, I took the wrong lesson from that Monster Cable experiment and only listened to my music through alligator-clipped coat hangers."

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

The safety of saccharine

The safety of saccharine: "In the LA Times, Elena Conis has a really interesting story about food safety and saccharine—the artificial sweetener that's long been suspected of toxicity, despite multiple studies suggesting that it's safe in the low doses humans actually consume. The piece does a really good job of explaining why it's so hard to gauge the long-term health impacts of something like saccharine. If you've ever wondered how people can have wildly different positions on the safety of a given chemical, this will help make sense of the confusion.




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The underwater sculpture of Jason de Caires Taylor

The underwater sculpture of Jason de Caires Taylor: "RTXVODX.jpg

"The Silent Evolution," by British artist Jason de Caires Taylor, lies between Cancun and Isla Mujeres off the coast of Mexico. Taylor used 'life casts' made from materials that encourage coral growth to build the installation on the sea bed, forming a new home for aquatic creatures. — REUTERS/Jorge Silva


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HOWTO grow your own snowflakes

HOWTO grow your own snowflakes: " Data Galleries Dn16170-Snowflakes Hollow-Columns



 Data Galleries Dn16170-Snowflakes Triangular1





Caltech physicist Ken Libbrecht wrote the book on snowflakes. Actually, several of them. The author of the Field Guide to Snwoflakes and The Secret Life of a Snowflake posted a HOWTO guide for growing your own snow crystals. (No, they probably won't look like the 'hollow column snowflake' or 'triangular crystal snowflake' above that Libbrecht photographed with a custom snowflake photomicroscope. For more of those incredible natural flakes, see this gallery at New Scientist.) From Libbrecht's Web site:



 Product Image 88735184 Field-Guide-To-Snowflakes


The parts list for this experiment is as follows:


>One used 20-oz plastic Coke bottle


>Three large-diameter styrofoam cups (or something similar; see below)


>A small kitchen sponge (1/2 inch thick)


>A short length of nylon fishing line (thinner is better; 1-pound test is good)


>A strong sewing needle


>Four straight pins


>One paper clip


>Some paper towels



'Grow Your Own Snowflakes' (via Science Friday)


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My Blackberry is not working

My Blackberry is not working: "


Video Link. Ronnie Corbett and Harry Enfield star in a sketch from The One Ronnie. (Thanks, Simon!)


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Hunter Stabler, exquisite papercutting artist

Hunter Stabler, exquisite papercutting artist: " Images Babayaga

 Images Majick Downsize



 Images Majick Detail 01 Downsize
Papercutting artist Hunter Stabler is an absolute X-Acto master. Above left, 'Baba Yaga Misquotes the Face to Steeleye Span,' W24' x H36,' Hand Cut Paper. Above right (and detail at left), 'Magick Kruller Alefbet Lamen of the Golden Dawn,' W27' x H35,' ink and graphite on hand-cut paper and Color-aid mounted on Plexiglass. Hunter Stabler (via Phantasmaphile)
















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Indecision Points

[This made me very, very angry, which was OK since I was stuck in airport hell and needed somewhere to focus my anger. It's also laugh-out-loud funny. -egg]

Indecision Points: "

The London Review of Books checks out President G.W. Bush's memoir, Decision Points:


Occasionally, someone on Team DP will insert a lyrical phrase - the tears on the begrimed faces of the 9/11 relief workers 'cutting a path through the soot like rivulets through a desert' - but most of the prose sounds like this:


'I told Margaret and Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Bolten that I considered this a far-reaching decision. I laid out a process for making it. I would clarify my guiding principles, listen to experts on all sides of the debate, reach a tentative conclusion, and run it past knowledgeable people. After finalising a decision, I would explain it to the American people. Finally, I would set up a process to ensure that my policy was implemented.'


There are nearly 500 pages of this...



A spot of Foucauldian analysis follows of Team DP, that being the authorial voice in both print and presidency: 'There are no decision points in Decision Points... [instead] a space into which the writing subject constantly disappears.'


'Damn right,' I said [LRB via Metafilter]


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People who touch your junk

People who touch your junk: "junk-20101228-090756.jpg


This helpful Venn diagram was created by Chartporn. [via Laughing Squid.]


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