Do you feel lucky? A set that’s set to grow.

All-black penguins are so rare there is practically no research on the subject–biologists guess that perhaps one in every quarter million of penguins shows evidence of at least partial melanism, whereas the penguin we saw appears to be almost entirely (if not entirely) melanistic….

Observing this black penguin waddle across South Georgia’s black sand beach revealed no different behavior than that of his fellow penguins. In fact, he seemed to mix well. Regarding feeding and mating behavior there is no real way to tell, but I do know that we were all fascinated by his presence and wished him the best for the coming winter season.

Lots of discussion about this photo and this kind of coloring, plus other links, at the National Geographic blog entry about it.

Stay tuned to see what I end up making. Or, you know, just to snigger at my failure!

We’re covering stories. But how often are we uncovering them? [...]

• There are examples of an emerging kind of citizen statistician, who uses access to open governmental data to uncover political or corporate malfeasance.
• Another solution is to divide the work of one journalist among 15 citizen journalists, and have each of them attend four town hall meetings a year. Collaborative tools make this approach possible if challenging.

The more I think about it, the investigative citizen journalists of the 21st century are the activists of the 20th. They care enough about a particular topic to dig into it with enough effort and fervor to uncover new truths.

Citizen Journalism: Covering and Uncovering the News

“Drunk” bats have no trouble flying under the influence, a new study says.

But “the bats, unfortunately, hadn’t read the proposal,” he said.

Read the National Geographic writeup or the full article at PLoS ONE – rest assured that the female bats were not visibly pregnant or lactating, and all bats got a chance to sober up before they headed home. The National Geographic story also has more pictures of Central American bats, as well as other fun bat links sprinkled throughout its writeup. (Bonus: boozy shrew.)

Eames House by Peter Stackpole, August 1950, part of the Google LIFE collection.

I don’t know how your day starts, but my commute’s become awfully pretty, lately.

Wonderful embroidery portraits from Naomi Cayne. She also touches on koalas, robots, and bicycles.

This is a fun reel, showing how heavily chroma keying is used in productions. It also has a very soothing score, a song called “Lionheart,” from Emancipator’s album “Soon it will be cold enough.”

One of the things I like about this video is that the creator, Stargate Studios (who has made effects sequences for dozens of television shows, films, and other commercial video projects), makes it so easy to find the music. Also that Emancipator makes it so easy to buy their albums and individual songs from their own website. You know, and that the effects house is called Stargate.

More about this spot, including a video about making this ad at Ken Tucker’s Entertainment Weekly blog – 20 wonderful minutes about the production.

What’s happening on the last Friday of the month around the world is not a really a parade — it’s the eruption of Amsterdam-like traffic patterns onto streets that were once the exclusive domain of motorized traffic. —hughillustration

Has this guy ever even seen an SF critical mass ride? It’s not a parade, sure, but it’s not a traffic pattern, either. It’s an explicit disruption, complete with rolling intersection closures. I haven’t been on one since their 10th Anniversary ride, but I put more miles on my bicycle most years than I do on my car (which has, for as long as I’ve lived in San Francisco, spent most of its time in a garage).

Here’s what I wrote about it then, in September 2002:

I had never been to Critical Mass before. I dislike riding a bicycle in a group, and it took me some time to learn enough about the political context to feel comfortable with it. I knew many people who went, and none of them had anything compelling to say about participating in it. They mostly talked about some kind of “energy.” I don’t think Critical Mass should be stopped, far from it. I just wasn’t sure what I’d get out of it.

The first Critical Mass ride in San Francisco was in 1992, and the numbers grew steadily over the months and years. It takes place on the last Friday of the month, when cyclists “take the lane” (now the entire street) in a large group, slowing traffic and blocking intersections to allow the full group to pass without a break. Since the group can number in the thousands, and the ride takes place at evening rush hour on Fridays, this creates a significant delay for drivers who are very much ready to go home.

In July 1997, San Francisco Mayor Willy Brown derided the Critical Mass riders as “lawless” and “insurrectionist” and decided to crack down on them. Estimates of the cyclists arrested ranged from 100 to 250, and there was a serious threat of jail terms for arrestees. Mayor Brown famously arrived at Critical Mass in his Lincoln limousine, and while people praise Critical Mass to the skies for forcing drivers to think about the way they threaten our environment in their single-occupancy vehicles, I’d be very surprised if those thinkers are many. Mayor Brown’s crass rage and stubborn cluelessness is still in exuberant evidence among angry drivers today (and in his own public remarks), in a city that recently saw the acquittal of a truck driver that dragged a cyclist to his death under his truck after shouting insults and throwing objects at him.

The 1997 crackdown inspired an outrage that is credited with catapulting Critical Mass into adulthood, relevance, and importance on the San Francisco political stage. It certainly changed the feel of Critical Mass forever. It was once a leaderless, almost formless event, with no specific plan except to gather on Friday nights and take to the streets. Critical Mass had already begun using mailing lists to organize before July 1997, and afterward it was made publicly known that police were monitoring the lists. There is still no official leader, although founders are often present, but now you can find your way to the start of the ride by following the increasing density of police vehicles. Routes are planned, and the police are advised of them in advance.

Last Friday, I made my way to Justin Herman Plaza, arriving right at 5:30 PM. The ride from my apartment is less than four miles, and every few intersections there were significantly more cyclists on the road with me. As we got to Market Street, there were whole blocks lined with cruisers and motorcycle cops. The Plaza was packed with people, with more arriving steadily. The ride began slowly and progressed slowly, often too slowly to keep a bicycle rolling.

The Tenth Anniversary was a big party, with a ridership estimated between 3000 and 5000. It featured costumes, art bikes, naked people, a marching band. It featured the usual run of angry drivers, clueless drivers darting out into the lines of bikes, and drivers being dutifully interviewed by local reporters. “It’s a bit rude. I feel antagonized,” the local metro daily quoted one driver. “As far as the whole bike thing goes, they ought to be working with us (motorists). They’re too adversarial.” Yeah, uh, not like car drivers. The same article reports that some drivers were delayed for as long as 20 minutes by the progress of the ride. For those hitting the Bay Bridge or 101, that was probably the shortest delay they experienced all evening.

Friday’s Critical Mass ride was planned to go up through the Haight Ashbury and Cole Valley and then back through the Castro to Dolores Park. People rode the entire route, but it was dark by the time riders were passing City Hall, and many skipped the route west of Church Street and went straight to the park, where the first arrivals were treated to a free meal. Cyclists lounged and socialized on the grass, and many remained in Dolores Street as the rest of the throng eased in, sitting, chatting, eating, and making plans to pick up take-out food locally and come back to the park.

A rhythmic sound grew from the direction of Market Street, and cyclists started grabbing their rides and moving onto the sidewalk and the strip down the middle of the boulevard. Cops in riot gear were jogging in formation down Dolores, determined to clear the street. I slipped down to 18th and headed over to Valencia. Guerrero street was lined as far as the eye could see with cruisers and paddy wagons. What, exactly, do the police think the Critical Mass riders are going to do? The most threatening shows of force and potential violence at these rides are made by the police themselves.

I doubt I’ll go to another Critical Mass, but I have a better sense of why I’m glad it exists. Like anyone, I’m ambivalent about the way it acts as a magnet for people who want to cause trouble and the way it gives a face to the anger expressed by drivers. It worries me when I see drivers who are so determined not to be delayed that they drive right into the ride. I wonder what the true proportion is of drivers who see Critical Mass up close and actually start thinking about transportation issues, even as I realize that’s a small part of what makes Critical Mass important.

I talked to people on the ride who never commute by bike, because it’s too dangerous, but they were out for Critical Mass. I want them to feel like they can ride a bike to work or let their kids ride to school. Political change is effected by many efforts; it’s not enough to limit activities to bicycle-safety classes for kids and work with legislators. I don’t like the odd bicycle messenger running amok any more than anyone else — probably less — but I understand why they’re angry. The streets will never change without events like Critical Mass to help maintain pressure and improve awareness of this traffic that gets pushed to the side of the road.

Since then I have been shouted at and nearly clipped by Mass riders as I’ve walked nearby, I’ve been surrounded by Mass riders slapping my windows when I had the misfortune to be in my car along their route, and I’ve learned that it’s best to just stay the hell away from wherever they plan to be on the last Friday of the month.

I’ve seen other countries’ diverse transportation cultures first hand. San Francisco doesn’t have anything remotely like Amsterdam (or China or India, for that matter), although it’s a somewhat safer city for bike commuting than when I wrote 8 years ago. But I’ve seen that mainly in the change in allowed traffic on Market Street – with much less private car traffic, it almost feels safe on the way to work now.

I would LOVE to see SF develop a city transportation culture like Amsterdam’s, but that takes more than idealists engaging in scheduled demonstrations. It takes (among other things) committed leaders and planners who have the courage to reduce automobile access to streets and create specific, protected areas that are bike only – and that provide meaningful access all over the city. And those efforts are not helped by delusional claims about a monthly, rush-hour bird-flipping to everyone else on the road.

Marc Pachter, long of the Smithsonian Institution, on the art – and arm-wrestling – of the interview in a wonderfully engaging way.

Hubert Duprat provided caddis flies with flakes of gold and semiprecious stones to use for building their larvae cases. They usually use grains of sand, particles of mineral or plant material, or bits of fish bone or crustacean shell, but they will use whatever is nearby and suitable to incorporate into their silk-bonded cases (although some are more flexible than others in what they will use). Here is a video and more information about the project, including some remarks by critic and philosopher Christian Besson about behavior and intent.

Planetarium-polishing Pluto-fetishists sound off about the astronomer they love to hate. Update (Feb 21 2010): Neil deGrasse Tyson talks for a few minutes about the background to this outrage, wherein he doesn’t fix the problem but he does fix the blame.

Note the Olympic broad jump record is something like 27 feet. Definitely hang in there to watch them being schooled in how the set the hurdles for “Girls Intermediate” versus “Olympic.” (They do surprisingly well!)

Crowley on the rings: “Chris and I had this master plan to do this routine that had all these fancy moves that we stole from YouTube, but we got here and figured out that … all of them are kind of impossible.”

Women have to invent for themselves ways to do things that men do not. Most magic instruction is designed for men with jackets. Women’s clothes don’t have pockets and women can’t reach into their breast pockets.

Sometimes it just becomes a competition to see who can pee the highest, and generally women don’t want to get involved in that.

Why is this question always asked? Yeesh. Sociological, economic, political and biological reasons.

Read the whole article.

Update Feb 27 2010: I happened to see this item again today, and – alas! – saw this message: “This item is no longer available.”

In addition to Thing-a-Day this month, I’m taking a stab at “365 photos,” which is intended to be a photo a day. I’ve missed a handful of days and refuse to feel bad about it. During the week, I’m even using 365 photos as my daily things. SO LAZY. I’m enjoying reconnecting with my environment.

365-2010 set at Flickr

It’s on. I registered for Thing-a-Day again. They’re using Posterous this year, so I created a Posterous stream for it. I am hoping that this judgmental cat will help keep me on track.

Is there anything else on Posterous I should be following?

Does anybody remember what using a computer is like? I spent a week after reinstalling my operating system picking out the right tweaks and gizmos and gadgets to make things more manageable. Weblogs exist that do nothing but teach you how you can make your experience on a computer less shitty. On a closed system, you can’t do that. You work with what you’ve got. —Rory Marinich, “I Love Walled Gardens”

Marinich goes on to extol the virtues of having a sandbox to start in instead of having an expert system that must be learned before you can make anything. He’s absolutely right – not least because lower barriers to entry mean more people will experiment but because the more people who experiment, the broader the range of potential creations are out there, because that broadens the range of itches that people will discover and be inspired to scratch. (Besides, expert users who want to root around on the insides: isn’t that what the dev kit is for?)

He speaks harshly about the role of compulsive behavior in the environment in which people often define success in computing, but it’s impossible not to nod along with him, especially after another Apple release cycle. He is spot on about the people who speculated wildly, overexamined every leak, made elaborate laundry lists of every little thing a new Apple product should do, and then freaked out when Steve didn’t deliver exactly what they imagined. I happen to enjoy watching that particular parade unfold, but it seems like an agonizing place for the people marching in it.

And they must be getting tired after making the same complaints over and over again for so long.

One thing Sweethearts lovers can count on each year is the candy’s simple formula. Since the hearts inception, the recipe has remained basically unchanged. —NECCO^® Sweethearts page

For decades one of my very favorite things has been the chalky confection known as the conversation heart. NECCO makes the good ones; I have no interest in the Brach version.

Until this year. I went to the local drugstore, and the packaging was utterly wrong – all opaque, no view of the candy. And it smelled wrong. Not, like, up close, but from a distance. Like Sweethearts Tarts. I looked for citric acid in the ingredient list, and no dice. I bought a small box for experimental purposes. Gross. Not just the wrong taste, but bumped flavors for the different colors, like someone overdoing the saturation on a photograph and ending up with colors that are just plain odd.

They issued an egg style of the candy for Easter a couple years ago, and they were absolutely foul. These are not as foul as those were, but they are NOT the traditional NECCO Sweethearts. And I don’t have the heart to try Brach’s this year and see if those are an acceptable port in this storm.

Valentine’s Day is cancelled.

Daniel Golden, former WSJ writer: One of the tragedies of the sale of the Journal is that it never aroused the public outrage that the sale of the New York Times would have, right? I think people looked at it and said, “Big deal. A right-wing tycoon is buying a right-wing newspaper.” But the reality was that for those of us in the news operation it didn’t feel like a right-wing newspaper. It felt like a great, independent, muckraking, thoughtful news and analysis operation that played an indispensable role in American society. People who weren’t familiar with the paper didn’t realize it was an awful lot more than an editorial page.

At the end of last year, family members, staff, ex-staff, and several anonymice remarked on the sale of The Wall Street Journal to Rupert Murdoch. Daniel Golden in particular says a lot of what I was thinking as I watched the sale and have watched the paper change—particularly becoming more diffuse and less interesting in its coverage. Also, I can’t quite believe I just linked to GQ.

Wilson A Bentley photographed 5,000 snowflakes in his lifetime, beginning at age 19, recording thousands of patterns that would otherwise be lost to temperature and time.

See the gallery at the Guardian site.

The halls and rooms on the upper floors are for hobbies. Here people make pottery, draw and paint pictures, build model airplanes, or play musical instruments. There are teachers to help you with every hobby.

A very popular room is the library. There are no books. The floor is shaped into tables and benches. Built into these tables are hundreds of vision phones. The books, films, and newspapers are all stored in the library computer.

First you dial the library index. This file contains all the books that have ever been written. It does not matter whether they were first written in Chinese or French. They will be here, translated into English. There is also an index of films and newspapers. You could spend all day watching comics, but it wouldn’t be a good idea.

This is a single page from a children’s book about how the future would look.

Back when I was a boy, I bought a children’s book at my town’s library book sale called “2010: Living in the Future” by Geoffrey Hoyle. Written in 1972, it had been withdrawn from the library’s collection by the mid-80s, when I picked it up. I’ve somehow managed to hang onto it for 25 years and now, suddenly, here we are: 2010. I’m reproducing this long out-of-print book here to see how we’re doing. Are we really living in the future? | a project by Daniel Sinker

Read the whole thing at Sinker’s project site. (Bonus, Geoffrey Hoyle is the son of legendary astronomer Fred Hoyle, coiner of the term Big Bang. Learn more about the father at this site dedicated to his life and work.)