the insignificant ramblings of a disturbed graphic designer
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Thursday Top 5
The sinister 4 a.m. conspiracy: Uncovered!
Google Chrome Comics artist Scott McCloud helps the Google team de-tech-ify the company’s open source browser project. www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome
FuturamaMath.com Dr. Sarah J. Greenwald teaches math at NC’s Appalachian State University, and gives the couch potatoes-cum-mathletes a few things to ponder. www.FuturamaMath.com
Get Crafty! Episode 6 Scrapblog gets creative in the videos they produce to show people how their site works. The results are way funnier than the normal how-to screencast. www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5LNHmwb1fw
Posted by espd at 4:48 PM |
1 comments
Share and enjoy:
| Email this:
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Is Google making us stupid?
Nicholas Carr poses questions about what the Internet is doing to the way we think, in the July/August issue of The Atlantic. Here’s an excerpt:
As we use...our “intellectual technologies” — the tools that extend our mental rather than our physical capacities — we inevitably begin to take on the qualities of those technologies...
The Internet promises to have particularly far-reaching effects on cognition. In a paper published in 1936, the British mathematician Alan Turing proved that a digital computer, which at the time existed only as a theoretical machine, could be programmed to perform the function of any other information-processing device. And that’s what we’re seeing today. The Internet, an immeasurably powerful computing system, is subsuming most of our other intellectual technologies. It’s becoming our map and our clock, our printing press and our typewriter, our calculator and our telephone, and our radio and TV.
Read the full article: Is Google making us stupid? And try to ignore the irony in reading a long article online about how the Internet is making us unable to read long articles anymore.
Posted by espd at 9:17 AM |
0 comments
Share and enjoy:
| Email this:
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Thursday Top 5
Where the hell is Matt? 2008 Matt has simply the best job in the world. It's hard not to be overcome with a general love of the entire planet while watching this video. Yes, even an old curmudgeon like me. And wait for the scene from Gurgaon, India, at 2:33 — it's simply the best.
Christian the lion Two guys raised a lion cub but then had to release him into the wild when he got too big to keep. After a year they travel to Africa to have a little kitty visit. Er...big kitty visit. More about the interesting reunion is available on Snopes. www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVNTdWbVBgc
Posted by espd at 8:23 AM |
0 comments
Share and enjoy:
| Email this:
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
An alternative to normal antibacterial soaps
Velma had been trying to get me to stop using antibacterial soap for a while. For starters, some of the main bacteria-fighting ingredients in these soaps, such as Triclosan, can create dioxins, chloroform gas, and have other harmful effects. Triclosan may also be harmful to downstream inhabitants we humans so often forget. There is also an argument that regular use of antibacterial agents may cause some bacteria to evolve resistance, making one susceptible to "superbugs" that can't be beaten by our normal treatments.
My counter-argument has always been that there are some things you occasionally get on your hands that you want every possible weapon in your arsenal to help get off. So maybe you do want to minimize or eliminate your use of antibacterial soaps, not use them for everyday use. But hell, if I'm gonna clean up cat vomit, or wipe dog crap off my boot, or...worse (*shudder*), then I want something just short of an acid dip for afterwards.
Finally I found an alternative product that claims to be antibacterial and protect the environment. I've been using it for a few weeks now, and while I certainly haven't tested it in any scientific way (sorry, my lab's been disassembled by government fiat), it seems to clean just as well as your average Dial of SoftSoap. I should note that I'm generally a skeptic when it comes to the claims of so-called "alternative" health and cleaning products, because I've tried so many of them over the past 10-15 years and far too many have failed utterly to work in the slightest perceptible way.
CleanWell claims its ingredient Ingenium "kills 99.99% of germs including MRSA (staph), E.Coli, and Salmonella on contact." The soap is kid-safe (no ingestion risk), and claims to be 100% green, 100% biodegradable, and is not tested on animals. It meets EPA and FDA standards for germ killing efficacy and contains no alcohol, nor the dreaded Triclosan. It's even made from plants on which no pesticides, irrigation, or fertilizers are used.
CleanWell's products include hand sanitizer and foaming soap, and it's still pretty new, just emerging in health food stores and the like. They have a list on their website of stores that carry CleanWell, but use my experience as a guide and call ahead to make sure they have the item you're looking for. I went to three places looking for the soap and they only carried the hand sanitizer in the first two. I finally tracked it down at Rainbow Grocery in the Mission.
CleanWell makes three soap fragrances: orange vanilla, lavender, and ginger bergamot. The labels peel right off if you want your soap dispenser to look more aesthetic (although I think their packaging design is far superior to most commercial soaps). When Jenny washed her hands at our house recently, she called CleanWell "so refreshing!" So I guess that's an endorsement ; )
If you're interested in further reading on the issues, science, and politics surrounding the efficacy of such health and cleaning products, CleanWell's Chief Technology Officer Dr. Larry Weiss writes a blog with voluminous amounts of information aimed at parents, kids, consumers, et al.
Posted by espd at 1:11 PM |
1 comments
Share and enjoy:
| Email this:
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Thursday Top 5
We Can Solve the Climate Crisis Al Gore has launched a $300 million climate change initiative, one of the most ambitious and costly public advocacy campaigns in U.S. history, according to the Washington Post. When you play this video, notice the W in "we." How much do you want to bet it's going to flip over and become "me" if you go to the site and join in? www.wecansolveit.org
"Amateur" by Lasse Gjertsen I'm pretty sure I posted this a couple years ago, but it's such a classic I had to repost it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzqumbhfxRo
The fierce Humboldt squid When Jason sent me this description, at first he was playing an April Fool's joke on me. But the Humboldt squid is real. "A mysterious sea creature up to 7 feet long, with 10 arms, a sharp beak and a ravenous appetite, has invaded ocean waters off Northern California. Packs of fierce Humboldt Squid attack nearly everything they see, from fish to scuba divers." www.kqed.org/quest/television/view/774
Grolsch Gardens This is a really innovative branded game built with Flash. It's sort of a noir detective story; you have to collect clues and items and the story unfolds. You'll need a lot of time to play it, but it's really engrossing...or would that be engrolsching? www.grolschgardens.com
Posted by espd at 4:37 PM |
0 comments
Share and enjoy:
| Email this:
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Thursday Top 5+1
Symptoms: Increased heart rate, fits of laughter... What if two members of the crew of the TV show "Scrubs" fell in love?
Don't try this at home Filming a slap in the face, then slowing it down to 4,000 frames per second. www.collegehumor.com
"Guardians" by George R.R. Martin Jason enthusiastically told me about this story he read a decade or two ago, and he was finally able to track it down online. It's by the fantasy and sci-fi author George R.R. Martin, and it touches on, among other things, the science of ecology. I really liked this story; it would make a good one-hour TV episode. Maybe Sci Fi Channel is listening? cerclefantastique.free.fr
Do the Test How many passes does the team in white make? www.dothetest.co.uk
Robots playing Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" "LEV the thereminbot and his newly-built pal thumpbot play "Crazy" with help from a 20-year-old MT32 synthesizer. OK, Lev's a bit out of tune, but hey, ROBOTS..." www.youtube.com/watch?v=19RJEnNUg1I
"BBS: The Documentary" Anybody remember dialing up to BBSes before the Web? I guess everybody needs a hobby: Some guy spent four years filming a documentary about BBSes. www.bbsdocumentary.com
"Planet Earth" This is a spectacular series from the BBC. I will second my friend Olya's recommendation too: Get the BBC version featuring David Atetnborough as narrator, not the Discovery Channel version featuring Sigourney Weaver. I mean, I like Sigourney and all, but she ain't no Attenborough. It's available in HD btw. www.amazon.com/Planet-Earth-Complete-BBC-DVD/dp/B000MRAAJW
The Green I wish I had cable so I could watch programming like this. In a poll ten years ago, almost 80% of Americans said they'd call themselves environmentalists. Yet most people do very little to make the environment better or raise awareness. Programming like this makes me optimistic. www.sundancechannel.com
Globalization has made it possible to produce clothing at increasingly lower prices, prices so low that many consumers consider this clothing to be disposable. Some call it "fast fashion," the clothing equivalent of fast food.
Some things I knew, some other I didn't:
Polyester, the most widely used manufactured fiber, is made from petroleum.
The manufacture of polyester and other synthetic fabrics is an energy-intensive process requiring large amounts of crude oil and releasing emissions including volatile organic compounds, particulate matter, and acid gases such as hydrogen chloride, all of which can cause or aggravate respiratory disease.
Cotton, one of the most popular and versatile fibers, accounts for a quarter of all the pesticides used in the United States.
Fierce global competition in the garment industry translates into poor working conditions for many laborers in developing nations.
Some Chinese textile workers make as little as 12–18 cents per hour, according to the U.S. National Labor Committee.
Americans throw away more than 68 pounds of clothing and textiles per person per year, and clothing and other textiles represent about 4% of the municipal solid waste, according to the EPA. And this figure is rapidly growing.
There are rays of hope:
The U.S. government offers tax incentives for citizens who donate household goods to charities such as the Salvation Army and Goodwill Industries, which salvage a portion of clothing and textiles that would otherwise go to landfills or incinerators.
Shopping at these kinds of stores is increasing — a 2006 survey conducted by America's Research Group, a consumer trends research firm, found that about 12–15% of Americans shop at consignment or resale stores.
The Council for Textile Recycling estimates that 2.5 billion pounds of post-consumer textile waste is collected for resale, and thus prevented from entering directly into landfills.
The International Standards Organization (ISO) is developing standards for a labeling system to identify garments that meet criteria as environmentally friendly.
While it still only represents 0.03% of worldwide cotton production, the sale of organic cotton fiber grew by an estimated 22.7% in 2004, over the previous year, according to the Organic Trade Association.
Sales of organic cotton women's clothing grew by a healthy 33% in 2004.
In 2004, Wal-Mart, America's largest retailer, began selling organic cotton women's shirts at its Sam's Club stores. Today the company is the world's largest buyer of organic cotton, offering several lines of organic cotton apparel.
Patagonia has been selling fleece clothing made from postconsumer plastic soda bottles since 1993. The company estimates that between 1993 and 2006 it saved 86 million soda bottles from ending up in the landfill.
Posted by espd at 1:44 PM |
0 comments
Share and enjoy:
| Email this:
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Thursday top 5
Lions vs. water buffalo vs. crocodiles This video made me emotional it's so incredible. You'll never guess who wins in the end. www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM
Presidential candidate selector This is based on a popular chart from 2decide.com, but a coworker of mine made it tons more useful. Hover over the left-hand column to select your position on the issues. jrm.cc/extras/candidate-selector/
To catch an iJacker NBC's "Dateline" set out to see if it could track down a stolen iPod. They left out brand new iPods in places like shopping malls and on the dashboard of a convertible in Santa Monica, New Jersey, Las Vegas, and the the Bay Area. Using hidden cameras and the serial numbers from the lifted electronics, they tracked down some of the thieves. It's a long show, but if you watch all the segments, you'll get to the part where they start asking Apple why the company isn't doing more to help customers whose iPods get stolen. video.msn.com
Asperger Test I'm an "Average male scientist." How geeky are you? www.piepalace.ca
Aaron
Alexis
Anne
Anya
April
Ari
Bo
Brian
Bryan
Chris
Dave & Terri
Dave H.
Debby
Drue
Fibu
Four Waters
Fwegan (aka Ynnej)
Holly
Hilary
Internet Rockstar
Jason
Jen
Jesse
Jessica
Kansinee
Karl
Laura
Leah
Marc
Martin
Matt
Mike
MJ
Morgan
OkayDave
Olya
Paco
Peter
Rick
Rocky
Ryan
Stellah
Tatum 
Trent
Velma
Veronica
Yu-Po