Link roundup
1. How to remove yourself from various background check sites.
2. Good article about the history of DDT. For example:
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2. Good article about the history of DDT. For example:
The German army purposely triggered malaria epidemics, such as in Italy in 1944. Drainage pumps on the Roman marshes ordinarily pumped excess water out to sea, desiccating the land enough to make it malaria-free and thus habitable for thriving cities and towns. By stilling the pumps, the Germans could have flooded the region and effectively impeded the Allies' progress. But German malariologist Erich Martini had studied the habits of the local malaria vector, Anopheles labranchiae, in depth, and he knew that inundating the region with the Mediterranean's salty waters would allow A. labranchiae, which can thrive in brackish water, to flourish. And so rather than simply stopping the pumps, they reversed them, salinating some ninety-eight thousand acres. Then they confiscated local stockpiles of antimalarial drugs. As the German soldiers departed, they left behind "clever sketches," The New York Times reported in 1944, "of the plague of mosquitoes that would follow the flooding of the farmlands." More than 100,000 of the 245,000 locals sickened with malaria.3. Today's economic news (aside from the stock market's freefall, and the continuing slow motion collapse of the Euro) was about protests in Israel. This was the most interesting analysis. (Hint, their economic problems don't really look anything like the USA's.)
Link roundup
1. Salt water shrimp farm in the middle of the desert in Las Vegas. Via.
2. Two conflicting posts I read yesterday - - A. All able adults work, so there's a growing job market for sophisticated assistants like yoga instructors, artisanal cheese makers, travel agents, etc (because people don't have time to do that stuff themselves anymore). B. Two income families will increasingly realize that it's foolish to work two jobs and give away the second salary in taxes, so they'll turn into one-income families. (My family came to that conclusion.)
3. A look at summer camps for rich kids - - well, specifically, a look at how rich kids increasingly arrive at summer camps by private plane. Via.
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2. Two conflicting posts I read yesterday - - A. All able adults work, so there's a growing job market for sophisticated assistants like yoga instructors, artisanal cheese makers, travel agents, etc (because people don't have time to do that stuff themselves anymore). B. Two income families will increasingly realize that it's foolish to work two jobs and give away the second salary in taxes, so they'll turn into one-income families. (My family came to that conclusion.)
3. A look at summer camps for rich kids - - well, specifically, a look at how rich kids increasingly arrive at summer camps by private plane. Via.
Link roundup
1. The five finalists in the Bioshock Infinite t-shirt design contest.
2. "Use seawater or vinegar to treat jellyfish stings, not urine."
3. "Artist EVOL Installs Miniature City Underneath Grassy Field."
4. Jess Nevins's Annotations to League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume III Chapter Two, a.k.a. Century: 1969 (10% off at TFAW).
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2. "Use seawater or vinegar to treat jellyfish stings, not urine."
3. "Artist EVOL Installs Miniature City Underneath Grassy Field."
4. Jess Nevins's Annotations to League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume III Chapter Two, a.k.a. Century: 1969 (10% off at TFAW).
Link roundup
1. It wasn't (just) an iceberg that sank the Titanic. Via.
2. Two really cool Google Street view events. Click ahead one step to see sudden winter and the rapture. Via.
3. The SWAT team that protects NASA.
*Buy patches at eBay.
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2. Two really cool Google Street view events. Click ahead one step to see sudden winter and the rapture. Via.
3. The SWAT team that protects NASA.
*Buy patches at eBay.
Image roundup
Allan, He's Ken's Buddy. (Available at eBay.)
Velcro.
Batman trilogy posters combined.
Cat hat.
Dog loves ice.
Mini Hummer.
Mirror world.
Link roundup
1. Artnet:
2. Double lightning bolts.
3. Beach turned a revolting green by algae in China (like swimming in Nickelodeon's slime). Via.
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Artist Janine “Jah Jah” Gordon has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against photographer Ryan McGinley for copyright infringement, arguing that 150 of McGinley’s photographs, including several used in an ad campaign for Levi’s, a co-defendant in the suit, are “substantially based” on Gordon’s original work.Via.
2. Double lightning bolts.
3. Beach turned a revolting green by algae in China (like swimming in Nickelodeon's slime). Via.
Link roundup
1. Want that cute guy to call you? Pick him up on a rickety bridge. Via.
2. New short story by Kelly Link. (I haven't read it yet, but I've liked everything else I've read of hers.) Via.
3. The winners of the inaugural Google Science Fair.
4. Always nice to be reminded that I'm not the only person who prefers email to Twitter and Facebook. (I love Google Reader, too.)
5. FYI, I'm continuing to experiment with Super Punch 2 at Tumblr and mostly post images there that I'm not also posting here.
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2. New short story by Kelly Link. (I haven't read it yet, but I've liked everything else I've read of hers.) Via.
3. The winners of the inaugural Google Science Fair.
4. Always nice to be reminded that I'm not the only person who prefers email to Twitter and Facebook. (I love Google Reader, too.)
5. FYI, I'm continuing to experiment with Super Punch 2 at Tumblr and mostly post images there that I'm not also posting here.
Link roundup
1. Webcomic: Zero Suit Samus Googles herself for the first ... and last time. Via.
2. Three fairly lackluster reviews of SVK by Warren Ellis and BERG.
3. "There are two lessons here. The first is that Gatorade is a waste of money. If you really want to improve performance, gargle with something that actually tastes good, since it was the activation of reward areas that allowed the cyclists to exert maximum performance."
*Buy Metroid toys at eBay.
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2. Three fairly lackluster reviews of SVK by Warren Ellis and BERG.
3. "There are two lessons here. The first is that Gatorade is a waste of money. If you really want to improve performance, gargle with something that actually tastes good, since it was the activation of reward areas that allowed the cyclists to exert maximum performance."
*Buy Metroid toys at eBay.
Link roundup
1. Doktor A. posted his sculptures from this weekend's show at Oh No Doom.
2. Pretty cool science experiment - - heating paperclips to learn about swordmaking.
3. M.S. Corley posted a preview of the latest issue of Dark Horse's The Strange Case of Mr. Hyde.
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2. Pretty cool science experiment - - heating paperclips to learn about swordmaking.
3. M.S. Corley posted a preview of the latest issue of Dark Horse's The Strange Case of Mr. Hyde.
Magic pyramid in real life
Incredible photograph by Juan Carlos Casado. Why does the volcano's shadow look like a giant pyramid? Click through for an explanation. It's like the highway of the gods. Via.
Link roundup
1. Devastating review of Puzzle Agent 2:
3. The sale items for July at Things from Another World have been posted.
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But sadly there’s not a glimmer of interest or wit in the telling, so you’re in fact drumming your fingers as people slowly jabber about nothing, waiting until it ends. I chose to play good puzzle games on my iPhone during these times.2. Grotesque corruption in medicine.
3. The sale items for July at Things from Another World have been posted.
Link roundup
1. It's mildly interesting from a karmic standpoint that the National Enquirer supposedly videotaped To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen cheating on his wife. It's more interesting to wonder who tipped them off so they could get the scoop.
2. Photo gallery of China's 26-mile Jiaozhou Bay bridge (the current longest ocean bridge in the world). Via.
3. Scientists think these ants raise other bugs for food. Via.
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2. Photo gallery of China's 26-mile Jiaozhou Bay bridge (the current longest ocean bridge in the world). Via.
3. Scientists think these ants raise other bugs for food. Via.
Link roundup
1. If you like scholarly analysis of comic books, then you should definitely check out Andrew Hickey's multi-part analysis of Grant Morrison's excellent Seven Soldiers of Victory. For example, here's a provocative theory:
2. How to make a hedge maze area rug. Via.
3. Amazon is giving away $2 in music credit. (Here's my recent music recommendations.)
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The question of abiogenesis has never properly been resolved – we know that at some point a set of non-self-replicating molecules became a self-replicating molecule, from which all further life on earth evolved (at least all the evidence points to life having only arisen once on the planet, though it’s possible this happened multiple times). One of the neatest hypotheses that I’ve heard was one from the chemist Graham Cairns-Smith. He pointed out that clay has two interesting properties. The first is that it’s made of crystals – which grow in consistent shapes. If you break a crystal, but allow it to continue growing, you get two crystals with the same basic pattern.Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
The second is that silica – which clay is made of – is a catalyst for all sorts of interesting chemical reactions.
Now, the first of these things means that natural selection, of a sort, will act on clay – different shaped crystals will be more or less likely to be destroyed by weather conditions, and the ones less likely to be destroyed will be able to reproduce. Some of these shapes will also be conducive to the creation of some molecules than others. But those molecules cold, in turn, make it easier for clay to form the shapes which make it most likely for them to appear. Suddenly, those molecules are helping the clay ‘reproduce’, and so the clay which produces those molecules is being selected for. And the molecules themselves are being selected for – increasingly complex molecules that can produce increasingly stable clay formations, and play an increasingly important part in reproduction.
Until one day one of those molecules becomes so complex, and plays such an important part in the reproductive process, that it breaks away from the clay and carries on reproducing itself without any clay at all. The clay gets left behind, as organic matter goes on to become ever-better at reproducing itself, and the clay just stays clay. The pattern has moved from one substrate to another, and transcended its origins.
2. How to make a hedge maze area rug. Via.
3. Amazon is giving away $2 in music credit. (Here's my recent music recommendations.)
Headache
Byron Eggenschwiler posted a few new illustrations including this one for an article by Carl Zimmer for Discover Magazine about chronic pain and the pain networks of the brain.
CERN mug, Aperture Science propulsion gel
Mug from the CERN gift shop (there's apparently an "error" with the equation).
Aperture Science interactive gels available at Think Geek. Via.
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