November 19, 2012
Up through Los Angeles came a bubblin' crude: Southern California was the Kuwait of the Jazz Age, turning a religious piano teacher into an oil baroness
"In 1925, California supplied [much] of the world’s oil (Google quickview, original PDF) and much of it came from pumps in the Southland (quickview, PDF). To date, around 9 billion barrels of oil have been produced in the Los Angeles area. There are still over 30,000 active wells here pumping around 230 million barrels of oil a year, making Los Angeles County the second most productive oil county in California (although the quality of the oil here is somewhat low by today’s standards). There are 55 known oil fields in the Los Angeles area and 11 of them are located in a very urban context. This setting makes the oil extraction process in Los Angeles unique." Things to do in LA: Urban Oil Wells In Los Angeles, Part I and Part II. [more inside]
Prison of Debt Paralyzes West
Be it the United States or the European Union, most Western countries are so highly indebted today that the markets have a greater say in their policies than the people. Why are democratic countries so pathetic when it comes to managing their money sustainably? This clear, well-written essay in Der Speigel lays out the current debt crisis - along with current, proposed solutions - in an understandable manner. Not included among the so-far-proposed solutions is one other that has opened up a veritable financial market and debt Pandora's Box - i.e. a central bank debt jubilee.
Twilight of the idolators?
And in today's fun IPR news we have Games Workshop VS. Chapterhouse Studios. In which the plaintiffs lawyers are claiming (p.44) copyright and design dress on common iconography such as crosses, skulls and riveted armor.
But to get at the gist of it, what makes third party miniature wargaming accessories different to bodykits? Where doth this madness lead. [more inside]
Thank a Breeder
In the wake of historic victories on marriage equality in Maryland, Maine, and Washington state, and the defeat of an anti-equality constitutional amendment in Minnesota, LGBTQ people are thanking their straight family and friends for their contributions to the cause. [more inside]
Nuclear Power Plant Simulation Game
Blatant ripoff? Or "close to the line"? You decide
Enforcing your visual copyright is easier if you register your work. Li Zheng taught fine art at Appalachian State 20 years ago, then began selling his paintings to galleries. After a hiatus in China, he returned to America to discover one of his paintings is being mass produced and sold at Kohl's, JC Penneys, and at least 2 dozen other retailers, including -- busted! -- artheist.com "it's a steal!" Main link has original, copy, and describes his uphill legal battle.
Bazinga!
Echidna Party Beach
Scientists on Tasmania's Maria Island caught footage of an echidna playing in the water. Stay spikey, stay cute!
This is a post that explains the sky flying thing that makes a lot of noise and fire
All day I hear the noise of waters
Some random, wet images:
A seahorse on a diver’s watch.
A diver hitting an Olympic pool
Mass stingray migration off Baja
Two streams of water colliding
A photographer in the rain
Waiting for the bubble to burst
Close up of a wave
Bathtime at a refugee camp Kutupalong, Bangladesh
Water being released from a dam to prevent flooding in Jiyuan, China
Transparent Montana lake, (and more) [more inside]
A diver hitting an Olympic pool
Mass stingray migration off Baja
Two streams of water colliding
A photographer in the rain
Waiting for the bubble to burst
Close up of a wave
Bathtime at a refugee camp Kutupalong, Bangladesh
Water being released from a dam to prevent flooding in Jiyuan, China
Transparent Montana lake, (and more) [more inside]
Spectacular Destruction
Fire whirls, aka fire tornadoes, aka fire devils, aka firenados, are frequently photographed but have only recently been scientifically validated based on data from the 2003 Canberra fires in Queensland, Australia. Although rare, the physics behind firenados is straightforward enough to create your own. The most devastating fire tornado was the "dragon twist" that devastated Tokyo immediately following the great Japan quake of 1923.
What the aftertaste of Scotch looks like...
A streaker comes across the stage. It has happened before, but there is nothing to compare it to now
Gravity's Rainbow won the National Book Award in 1974. Its author, the famously reclusive Thomas Pynchon, did not appear at the awards ceremony, but instead sent comedian Irwin Corey in his place who accepted the award on behalf of one "Richard Python." At the end of the speech, a streaker ran nude across the stage. [more inside]
It is time to tackle the beast. The True Cost of Healthcare
How to get less from more. A modest website by an ordinary M.D. who seems to have an extraordinary curiosity. The next time someone complains to you about socialized medicine vs. the efficiencies of the free market don't shoot them just point them here. An Alice in Wonderland view of the "Best healthcare in the world".
TLDR: You don't have to read the screed you can watch it. [more inside]
Selena Kyle? The girl who talks to her cats?
The fact that many of the actors in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy have previously portrayed high school characters has resulted in an extended trailer mashup resetting the Batman series as a teen comedy.
A small step for inclusivity
Two years ago, Rachel McCarthy James' (RMJ) Deeply Problematic, "a feminist blog that seeks to examine and analyze the treatment of problematized bodies in society and the media", ran a series of posts examining Jeph Jacques webcomic Questionable Content looking at the women in QC, their bodies, their sexuality and identity and finally, the way Jacques normalised disability in it. Largely positive, RMJ did put a caveat on the lack of out trans characters in the comic. Today that lack was addressed as relatively new character Claire came out as trans. [more inside]
LUNCH: The Terror Within
New breakthrough claimed to stop MS completely in mice and possibly other autoimmune diseases.
Nanoparticles covered in proteins trick immune system. A breakthrough new experimental treatment that uses nanoparticles covered with proteins to trick the immune system, managed to stop it attacking myelin and halt disease progression in mice with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (MS). The researchers say the approach may also be applicable to other auto-immune diseases such as asthma and type 1 diabetes.
"There is NOTHING--absolute nothing--half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."
Looking for a project for the winter? Have some spare room and hand tools? Why not build a boat? [more inside]
Eric Stonestreet can't believe what's happening.
PSY (with Special Guest MC Hammer) live at the 2012 American Music Awards. [slyt] No further explanation necessary. [more inside]
Steal My Book!
Steal My Book! Why I'm abetting a rogue translation of my novel. This is the story of how author Peter Mountford discovered that his novel A Young Man's Guide to Late Capitalism was being translated for an unauthorized e-book version, and why he decided to help the struggling Russian-language translator. Audio interview with Mountford on CBC Radio's Q.
An Intro To Rebel Hip-Hop Of The Arab Revolutions
When to Dull Tool Hits the Idler Wheel It Thinks Like a Driver of the Apatow
Dull Tool is the new track from Fiona Apple written for This is 40, the follow up to Judd Apatow's Knocked Up. The song is already being touted as a potential Oscar winner.
Radi-Aid: Africa for Norway
A Norwegian group called Radi-Aid has launched an appeal to ship radiators from Africa to Norway. They have also released a video to highlight the plight of freezing children during Norway's harsh winter. [more inside]
The future of file sharing
In an attempt to make itself less desirable to copyright infringers, starting November 27, RapidShare will begin capping non-paying users at 1 gigabyte of outbound downloads per day. (Paying users will have 30 gigabytes.) Meanwhile, controversial Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom is planning a January debut for his new Mega service - which plans to insure itself against litigation by having all hosted material encrypted by the uploader's browser before transmission.
Romney's Technical Foul
You've heard from quite a few sources as to why and how Romney lost, including Romney himself. But technology played a role in the loss, too. According to Sean Gallagher in Ars Technica, Romney's campaign was badly outgunned when it came to its technology infrastructure, relying heavily on outsourced IT and consultants. The disastrous Project ORCA, an attempted streamlining of the age old "strike list" process for contacting those who haven't voted yet, likely did not help. [more inside]
Monty Python's "Go Hang a Salami, I'm a Lasagna Hog"
38 Fake Film Titles to the Tune of "Bob" by 'Weird Al' Yankovic made by Oliver Smith in which an aspiring animator has created a tour-de-force (and tour-de-farce) showreel of kinetic typography and film homages using the palindromic lyrics of The Weird One's Bob Dylan riff (with a few actor and director credits tossed in to remind you what he's referencing). If Oliver Smith doesn't get a ton of job offers from this, the animation biz is broken.
Is there such a thing as the female conscience?
Letter From America archives replenished by Newquay man.
BBC's Letter From America archives replenished by Newquay man. Most not kept by the BBC. Amazing piece of radio in and of itself. [previously].
"challenging Casanova"
Guys don't want casual sex: "This stereotype 'tells us that guys are primarily interested in sex, not relationships... This contributes to the notion that guys are emotional clods who are incapable of connecting with their partners because, hey, they’re just guys, and guys are only interested in sex.'... the Wake Forest University professor lays out the current data on young men’s sexual desires and behavior to make a case against this insidious stereotype." Salon interviews Andrew Smiler, author of Challenging Casanova: Beyond the Stereotype of the Promiscuous Young Male. [more inside]
Visicalc on your iPhone
Dan Bricklin, father of the spreadsheet, discovers VisiCalc running in a JavaScript emulator of an IBM PC 5150. [more inside]
I'm not a scientist, man.
Tiny Beauty
Out of the Closet and Into a Uniform
For their club’s big debut this semester, the cadets at the United States Air Force Academy hammered out talking points, printed fliers and hung their logo, a rainbow-colored globe, in their booth in Arnold Hall. Then they held their breath.
On the day known as Blue Rush, when incoming freshmen learn about extracurricular activities, Lydia Hill and Brandon Reams were making history, introducing their fellow cadets to Spectrum, the academy’s first club for gay, lesbian and bisexual students and their straight friends and supporters. [SLNYT]
On the day known as Blue Rush, when incoming freshmen learn about extracurricular activities, Lydia Hill and Brandon Reams were making history, introducing their fellow cadets to Spectrum, the academy’s first club for gay, lesbian and bisexual students and their straight friends and supporters. [SLNYT]
Gingham Style
SLYT of a Portuguese performance of the Wizard of Oz with a missing dance number added to the show.
Laugh until you're horse
poonikins the magic warrior princess (SLequinegangstermachinma)
I don't want to set the world on fire/I just want to start a flame in your heart
Five years ago today Jeff Bezos’ Amazon.com released the Amazon Kindle, a move that would revolutionize the publishing industry. While often controversial, most recently for its international tax avoidance schemes, Amazon has been very successful and has made millions for its founder. What has Bezos done with some of his tax-free millions? Well for one, he launched and landed a rocket vertically, and posted the video to YouTube, just yesterday. [more inside]
The New Sound of Music
Airing in 1979, The New Sound of Music was a BBC documentary which depicted and demonstrated the history of recorded and manipulated music, from the earliest paper rolls to electronic synthesizers and the cutting and manipulation of tape. [more inside]
The Genius of Nature
Bees and a species of bird can solve the traveling salesman problem "It’s Saturday; you’ve got errands to run. Your spouse wants bread from the bakery, you need to pick up the dry cleaning, your kids need new shoes, and you’ve got a dentist appointment. None of this is any fun, so you might as well do it as quickly as possible by calculating the fastest and most efficient route that takes you to each stop... Menger and Whitney both discovered that the number of possible routes between stops increases exponentially with each additional destination. In a typical model, for instance, three stops yield six routes, while eight stops yield 40,320... By setting up five artificial flowers in a pentagon shape and tracking each bee’s path, researchers discovered that every bee optimized its route, visiting the highest-reward flowers in the shortest possible amount of time." [more inside]
The Problem With Innovation
With the recent release of the new instalment of first-person shooter goliath Call of Duty, Activision is poised to make another cool gazillion dollars or so. In fact, the game is popular with many gamers except for one significant group -- the professional ones: "The new games can bring all kinds of changes. Guns fire differently. The physics of the world have been tweaked. This makes it challenging and fun for casual players, but it’s a nightmare scenario for pros. The most important thing for professionals is to be able to practice and play the same game, with the same rules, for years and years to hone their skills. (Imagine if they completely changed the rules of Major League Baseball every year, using different balls, spacing the bases further apart, adding a fourth outfielder.)"
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