http://www.caitlinburke.com Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:40:27 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Do you feel lucky? A set that's set to grow. http://www.caitlinburke.com/2010/03/09/gooproulette/ 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 ... http://www.caitlinburke.com/2010/03/05/black-swa%e2%80%94penguin/ March: 1 shot a week with lighting (not just available light) April: CAT A DAY! (Does your cat need a portrait? I might need to visit other cats to keep it interesting.) Stay tuned to see what I end up making. Or, you know, just to snigger at my failure! http://www.caitlinburke.com/2010/03/03/photography-goals-for-march-and-april/ Darren Barefoot talks a little about the difference between citizen journalists and beat or investigative reporters, and suggests a couple of methods that can be used right now to mitigate the risks of losing those supported roles: We’re covering stories. But how often are we uncovering them? [...] There are examples of ... http://www.caitlinburke.com/2010/02/27/back-to-the-age-of-muckraking/ "Drunk" bats have no trouble flying under the influence, a new study says. Tropical bats of Central and South America regularly eat fermenting fruits and nectar. But they can fly and use their built-in "sonar" just as well while inebriated as while sober—even with blood-alcohol contents that would exceed legal limits ... http://www.caitlinburke.com/2010/02/24/bat-sonar-beats-fuis/ Eames House by Peter Stackpole, August 1950, part of the Google LIFE collection. http://www.caitlinburke.com/2010/02/23/cozy/ I don't know how your day starts, but my commute's become awfully pretty, lately. http://www.caitlinburke.com/2010/02/22/change-for-the-better/ Wonderful embroidery portraits from Naomi Cayne. She also touches on koalas, robots, and bicycles. http://www.caitlinburke.com/2010/02/21/great-moments-in-science/ 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 ... http://www.caitlinburke.com/2010/02/20/its-fake/ More about this spot, including a video about making this ad at Ken Tucker's Entertainment Weekly blog - 20 wonderful minutes about the production. http://www.caitlinburke.com/2010/02/19/the-man-your-man-could-smell-like/ 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 ... http://www.caitlinburke.com/2010/02/17/just-plain-wrong/ Marc Pachter, long of the Smithsonian Institution, on the art - and arm-wrestling - of the interview in a wonderfully engaging way. http://www.caitlinburke.com/2010/02/16/the-art-of-the-interview/ 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 ... http://www.caitlinburke.com/2010/02/15/caddis-art/ 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. http://www.caitlinburke.com/2010/02/14/neil-degrasse-tyson-galactic-despot/ Dennis Crowley and Christian Bovine (an utterly nondescriptive name!) compare their performances in different events to those of Olympic athletes. It may seem obvious that just because they can do that doesn't mean that you can, but, hey, it's nice to have data! Note the Olympic broad jump record is ... http://www.caitlinburke.com/2010/02/13/your-olympic-dreams-shattered/ Ben Goldacre discusses results of different placebo studies and ways that the placebo effect can be harnessed - ethically - to improve healthcare. http://www.caitlinburke.com/2010/02/11/placebos-for-better-healthcare/ A roundup of comments from a survey of more than 200 magicians (fewer than 5% of whom were female). 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 ... http://www.caitlinburke.com/2010/02/09/why-so-few-women-in-magic/ A must for any Amazon wishlist (and do dip into the customer reviews) Update Feb 27 2010: I happened to see this item again today, and – alas! – saw this message: "This item is no longer available." http://www.caitlinburke.com/2010/02/08/get-nothing/ 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 ... http://www.caitlinburke.com/2010/02/07/photo-a-day/ 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? http://www.caitlinburke.com/2010/01/30/thing-a-day/ 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 ... http://www.caitlinburke.com/2010/01/28/the-walled-garden/ 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; ... http://www.caitlinburke.com/2010/01/26/lies/ 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 ... http://www.caitlinburke.com/2010/01/24/after-the-end/ 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. http://www.caitlinburke.com/2010/01/21/first-snowflake-photos/ 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 ... http://www.caitlinburke.com/2010/01/17/all-offered-by-google/