May 1, 2009
"Genius is nothing more nor less than childhood recovered at will."
There are times when having a fully developed brain can almost seem like an impediment. Are babies more aware of the world around them than adults are? Can "thinking like a baby" lead us to be more in tune with our creativity and our ability to learn? Scientists have taken a new look inside the baby mind, which is "unfocused, random, and extremely good at what it does."
The Fatal Attraction Method of Debt Collection
Kimba
White House 2.0
It's on Facebook. It's also on MySpace. It even has a Twitter page. The White House is in the 21st century.
No critical thought allowed!
James Corbett, a California high-school educator of twenty years, has been found guilty of violating the establishment clause of the first amendment. The lawsuit (PDF) was brought to a U.S. District Court on December 12th, 2007 by student Chad Farnan and his parents with the aid of the legal group 'Advocates for Faith and Freedom' against Corbett and the Capistrano Unified School District as a result of comments made which were critical of Christianity. During the sixteen month legal battle, hundreds of students in support of the teacher demonstrated outside the school while the Farnan family appealed to opinion outlets like 'The O'Reilly Factor'. [more inside]
probably my heart
"Maybe, just maybe, we've found the next Mozart." Not just a six year old virtuoso, but a composer as well, Emily Bear seems likely to keep us listening longer than most precocious child pianists. As one tv talk show host has learned, as a composer Emily is both speedy and prolific.
Karaoke Party
Karaoke Party. A web-based karaoke game that lets you pick a song, sing it with backing instrumental and vocals, track whether or not you're singing the right note at the right time, and gives you points if you do. [more inside]
Heaven doesn't need a harmonica player yet.
After his ninth heart surgery, Mackie's doctors had him on 15 different medicines. But the side effects made life miserable. So one day he quit taking all 15 and decided to spend his final days doing something he always wanted to do.
He used the money he would have spent on the prescriptions to give away 300 harmonicas, with lessons included. "I really thought it was the last thing I could ever do," he says. [more inside]
How come nothin is tagged "nekkid?"
A safer way to cross Times Square
I came across this at youtube while looking for a visual to illustrate "strong teeth" in an e-mail. Just had to share: Woman crosses Time Square by her teeth, circa 1932.
My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold a Rainbow In the Sky — Wordsworth
It's always great excitement to see a rainbow. If you're lucky enough to have your camera with you, even better. But there's more to it than just being in the right place at the right time. How to Photograph a Rainbow gives us some pointers so our pictures can look like these. As a last resort, if you have a great photo opportunity but no rainbow: Add A Realistic Rainbow To A Photo In Photoshop.
McPepsiBlue
“Everyone knows I’m keen on love songs, so it was a perfect fit for me to write a love song for the 25th anniversary of Chicken McNuggets. " says Keith Sweat, currently the top story on 365Black.com, McDonald's website touting its 'deep roots' in the black community. "Like the unique African Baobab tree, which nourishes its community with its leaves and fruit, McDonald's has branched out to the African-American community nourishing it with valuable programs and opportunities."
"Over 40% of all dialogue guaranteed at least 50% true, if you believe everything you read."
Tracy White is a webcomics pioneer, having produced TRACED ("lived, written and drawn by me. guaranteed 95% true.") since 1996. There's also the docu-comic Babble Fish, about God revealing himself in the form of a fish to an upstate NY Hasidic community, and her contribution to For Real, a comic documenting the lives of immigrant teens in NYC. You can also follow her work on YouTube and Flickr, where she posts selections from her upcoming book.
That's no Moon. Or a McDonald's. WTF?
At the mostly abandoned Moffett Field in an abandoned McDonald's, digital archeologists attempt to restore, recover and archive abandoned high resolution imagery and data from previous manned Moon missions, using an abandoned Ampex 2" tape drive found in a chicken coop - the last working machine in the world, restored by the last man alive capable of rebuilding the heads. This is likely only part of their weird story.
Some food with your sugar
Would you eat a stack of 16 sugar cubes? SugarStacks makes it clear how much food you're having with your sugar. The McDonald's chocolate shake is particularly disgusting.
The Greatest Series Ever?
For those who might be unaware: One of the great basketball games concluded last night in thrilling fashion during triple overtime. It is only par for a series that has gone into overtime for the fourth time in games in six games (one of which was double OT, and last night's aforementioned triple OT). The heroic moments and failures of players are too numerous to count at this point, but five of the six games have been decided by 11 points... TOTAL. On Saturday 8PM EST, what is arguably one of the greatest series ever, will conclude with the final game 7. [more inside]
love, charlie
Charlie plays. Charlie explores. Charlie bites. Charlie relaxes. Charlie sleeps. Charlie loves. [more inside]
That's one large with a twist of the lith, please.
A Japanese study finds a link between lower suicide rates and traces of lithium in the drinking water. While the study's findings are "intriguing", external relations director Sophie Corlett of Mind warns that lithium is toxic, and that further research is needed.
Keep on Crushin'
Flash Friday: Crush the Castle. Use a trebuchet to bust up various castles, squashing the regal inhabitants.
It's new, it's old! It's famous, it's unknown!
Everybodies favorite tower defense game has a major new release Desktop Tower Defense just released a Pro edition. It's got new graphics, new creeps and multiplayer.
If it's Friday it must be fun and flash!
Eenie, meenie, who da ho?
Outdoor fucking starts today
The First of May Jonathan Coulton's ode to the 'coming' of spring (SLYT). NSFW language. Coulton's Last.fm page. More MP3s here. Coulton wrote the 'Still Alive' song from Portal and also works with John Hodgman. Jon on Twitter.
Nielsen: You're doing it wrong
A recent Nielsen study which has been circulating the web indicated that 60% of Twitter users quit the social networking site after just one month--music to many Mefite's ears. But as one reporter noted, the study didn't take into account any of the third-party applications, (like Tweetdeck) through which many users access their Twitter feeds. Just three days later, Nielsen responds with a revised study purportedly them into account.
Sourhern photographer William Eggleston
William Eggleston...an American(a) photographer takes intensly colorful photographs of junk, hotel rooms, road sides. Its been done by lots of photographers, and unintentional imitators, but he's made a real name for himself. So much depends upon a red wheel barrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens.
Criminalizing prostitution in RI
Prostitution is legal in two states: Nevada and Rhode Island. Some legislators in Rhode Island have been trying to close the loophole for years, to no avail. Yesterday, for the first time, the bill took a huge step toward passage. [more inside]
Torture and Religion
The PEW survey recently released; summarised by Andrew Sullivan reveals that evangelicals are most likely to approve of torture.
This survey coincides with Harpers May edition lead article ( presently behind a subscription firewall) extracted here. The article is by Jeff Sharlet - (previously: How the Christian right is reimagining U.S. history). The two are not unrelated. The division of the world into God's people and Satan's people enabled the Bush Administration to support the most devilish behavior imaginable, all in the name of righteousness, as shown by General Boykin then Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence.
This survey coincides with Harpers May edition lead article ( presently behind a subscription firewall) extracted here. The article is by Jeff Sharlet - (previously: How the Christian right is reimagining U.S. history). The two are not unrelated. The division of the world into God's people and Satan's people enabled the Bush Administration to support the most devilish behavior imaginable, all in the name of righteousness, as shown by General Boykin then Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence.
Computable data* (conceivably knowable) about people
Stephen Wolfram discusses Wolfram|Alpha: Computational Knowledge Engine - at the same time Google Adds Search to Public Data, viz: "Nobody really paid attention to the two hour snorecast" -- like a cross between designing for big data and a glossary of game theory terms -- on Wolfram|Alpha (previously), yet the veil is being lifted nonetheless: "[on] a platonic search engine, unearthing eternal truths that may never have been written down before," cf. hunch & cyc (and in other startup news...) [via] [more inside]
They're gonna rip it off
Jack and Meg did it first. Audioslave did it poorly. The Hives tried to do it by rote. The Flaming Lips did it best while simultaneously Moving To Florida. It's been done in Mario Paint and on a ukulele.
But the latest people to attempt it? Country legends The Oak Ridge Boys.
Nothing's Shocking.
Video for Matt and Kim's "Lessons Learned" [NSFW]
Daily Grind
On April 28, Clifford May, president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracy, was interviewed by Jon Stewart on the Daily Show. It was about torture. The interview lasted three times longer than what was eventually aired, but the full-length video is online and quite fascinating, if a bit shouty.
Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. [more inside]
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