Basics of paleontology Case study in false balance in journalism Cure for hiccups Dick Cheney empathy test Donald Rumsfeld: poet Dying language and identity Ethics of drug development Exhibition as social dominance Experience Is the Product Feynman on k-12 textbook acquisition Inside 48-hours magazine James Frey: sweatshop proprietor Justin Long: good guy Nabokov: insightful lepidopterist The appeal of Mad Men The end of men Verifying info online What movie titles are most often adapted in scientific titles? What's happening to my body: a book for cortez wrasses Wonderful review of the plight of isolated South American tribesThe corsetting of the modern novel to fit between the tight constraints of binding costs and price elasticity of demand will be unstrung, or replaced by bras, or some other over-stressed metaphorical construct.
Charlie Stross discusses logistics of mass production and the potential of electronic delivery, part of his “Common Misconceptions about Publishing” series.
to start posting my vacation photos!
Are you one of the many cat owners who has a “chitterer”? My current cat just gazes in helpless abandon at birds outside, but most of the cats I’ve had made a clicking chittering call. There’s disagreement about what this means, from the side effect of an anticipatory jaw movement to a deliberate “bird call” to sheer frustration.
In margays, though, it’s an explicit imitation of prey. It probably helps that tamarins have some calls that overlap with cat sounds. As Laelaps explains, because vocalizations can be used to mark territory, “a monkey or other prey animal that thinks it is coming over to tell a competitor to buzz off may instead come face-to-face with a margay.”
I’ve said it before, and the evidence is mounting: the iPad is coated in oxytocin, a hormone that has been linked to orgasm, social recognition, pair bonding, anxiety, trust, love, and maternal behaviors.
“After a 13-hour wait, it’s like giving birth,” he said after emerging from the Apple store.
“You’re in labour for 13 hours and you’re tired and exhausted, you’re hot one minute then you’re cold the next, and you’re in pain, but then there’s the ecstacy when you have this little thing in your arms.” —iPad goes on sale as Apple faithful flock to Britain’s stores
Ah what a difference a visual makes. They developed it toward the end of the 19th Century, and Sherwin-Williams still uses this horrific logo:
It actually leaves me breathless, it’s so horrible. On the same building where the above sign appears is this mural (or at least was – I haven’t been back there for a while):
Seriously. What the hell? This time it’s personal!
Well, someone is at least making an effort to be true to SWP’s horrific tagline—”Cover the Earth” (I almost wish I had made that up)—and still make something aesthetically pleasing and that, you know, doesn’t invoke the Union Carbide Bhopal disaster.
See an animated ad on this theme – worth going just for the cardinal depiction. The frog is also awesome. Dear SWP, notice how, in the animation, your logo only appears at a distance where it—and its apocalyptic tagline—cannot be readily discerned. Smart!
I know some wonderfully creative people who really know how to get stuff done. Over the weekend, I volunteered some time to help them produce 48 Hour Magazine, and it’s already available at MagCloud. It was a crazy idea and a wonderful thing to be involved with – and I can’t wait til the next one!
Update: CBS has issued a cease-and-desist letter claiming infringement on “48 Hours.” Mat Honan is collecting information about the process and the coverage.
Update June 15: State of the case, with links to other recent coverage
This one feels inevitable, doesn’t it? Apple has one heck of a phone in the iPhone. But that’s all it is — one phone.
Android software is being sprayed across so many handsets that eventually one of the handsets will deliver an experience better than the iPhone. — Apple vs Google: The Next 10 Battles To Watch
When was the last time that “sprayed across so many” devices “eventually” yielded an experience (for regular users) that was substantially better than a carefully controlled and designed UI limited to a few, thoughtfully specified hardware configurations?
This wonderful skit followed the the Kirki oil spill, off the coast of Australia, in 1991. You can see more Clarke and Dawe (including the last 20 seconds of this skit) at the Mr John Clarke website.
But let’s get back to the story. The ship, operated by a Greek crew of 37, was on charter to BP Australia Ltd and was carrying a full cargo of 82,650 tonnes of Murban light crude from Jebel Dhanna to BP’s refinery at Kwinana, Western Australia.
Heckuva glob, BP.
