The August 22nd issue of the New
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Entries for August 2005
Science and drugs
Scientists who have tried drugs have included Carl Sagan, Richard Feynman, and Stephen Jay Gould. Like Sigmund Freud, fictional detective Sherlock Holmes was a fan of cocaine. (via cyc-c)
When I saw these Star Trek business
When I saw these Star Trek business cards the other day, I knew that Star Wars ones had to exist. Novelty business cards must have been a popular thing back in the day. Anyone up for making Matrix and LOTR cards?
Billboard is now tracking the top-selling ringtones.
Billboard is now tracking the top-selling ringtones. The list seems to track pretty close to the top singles list. Well, except for the Super Mario Bros theme song ringtone. (via rw)
Carl Zimmer responds to the idea that
Carl Zimmer responds to the idea that Charles Darwin’s evolutionary ideas turned him (Darwin) away from religion (as stated in this Slate article).
Steven Shaw, founder of the excellent food
Steven Shaw, founder of the excellent food site eGullet, has a new book out called Turning the Tables, an outsider’s inside perspective on food and restaurants. Here’s an excerpt and a review from Wine Spectator.
Seyed Alavi’s carpet for a Sacramento airport
Seyed Alavi’s carpet for a Sacramento airport walkway features an aerial view of the Sacramento River. “It is truly amazing what is possible to print images on these days. Of course, for home use the cost is still somewhat prohibitive, but that is slowly changing as well.” (thx dunstan)
Remember that the Dukes of Hazzard movie
Remember that the Dukes of Hazzard movie was in danger of not being released because the TV show was originally based on a movie? Well, the movie was released but the holder of the rights to the original movie got a settlement of $17.5 million, way more than the original film probably made.
Movie title sequences designed by Saul Bass.
Movie title sequences designed by Saul Bass. Be sure to click through to the image galleries.
Slate ruminates on Danny Way’s giant skateboard
Slate ruminates on Danny Way’s giant skateboard ramp. Videos of people actually using this beautiful monstrosity are available on Way’s site. Oh, and he jumped The Great Wall of China on a skateboard earlier this year.
Joshua Ellis on the “Grim Meathook Future”
Joshua Ellis on the “Grim Meathook Future” of much of the world: “nobody really wants to talk about that future, because it’s depressing and not fun and doesn’t have Fischerspooner doing the soundtrack”. (via bbj)
Thanks to Napoleon Dynamite, ligers have a new-found popularity.
Thanks to Napoleon Dynamite, ligers have a new-found popularity.
How vanilla came to be associated with
How vanilla came to be associated with blandness in America. My favorite flavor of ice cream is vanilla and I always get shit for it. But have you ever tasted ice cream with real vanilla in it? Yum.
NYC Craigslist computer services offered: “Will read
NYC Craigslist computer services offered: “Will read and comment (semi-intelligently) on your blog for $2”. There’s a five comment minimum with future comments for free (!!) if your site is entertaining enough. (via lia (rhymes!)) Update: doh, the page has expired. It was pretty funny though, sorry you missed it.
An annotated synopsis of 100 People Who Are
An annotated synopsis of 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America, a book by Bernard Goldberg. Latrell Sprewell is #30?
Tim (via email): Jon Stewart interviewed Goldberg on The Daily Show.
Emergence
I recently reread Steven Johnson’s Emergence and was struck by how familar it all seemed, even for a reread. Flipping through the bibliography at the end, I realized why: much of my reading list over the past four years has come directly from those few pages in the back of the book:
The Age of Spiritual Machines by Ray Kurzweil
A Thousand Years of Nonlinear History by Manual De Landa
Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond
The Pattern on the Stone by Danny Hillis
How Buildings Learn by Stewart Brand
The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs
Nonzero by Robert Wright
Since reading the book, I’ve also heard talks or read articles by other folks mentioned in the bibliography, like Franz De Waal, Eric Bonabeau, Kevin Kelly, James Howard Kunstler, Marvin Minsky, etc. I’d read a few things on the topic before Emergence, but it was really a catalyst for a area of study I didn’t quite know I was focusing on until much later.
How will the impending male contraceptive pill
How will the impending male contraceptive pill change our understanding of gender roles? Related: Gladwell on John Rock, one of the inventors of the female birth-control pill.
David Galbraith has “a new theory -
David Galbraith has “a new theory - Unintelligent Design, which is the same as Intelligent Design, except that the creator is either a moron or Satan”. Hee.
I love that Davenetics still shows up
I love that Davenetics still shows up in these graphs of the top blogs on Technorati. I read Davenetics daily but the only reason it is on the list is because it’s linked in a default Blogger template. If T’rati actually looked at their “statistics” instead of just using them to market to us, this sort of thing is pretty easy to spot (if the ratio of the # of links vs. the # of sites linking is close to 1.0, the site may not belong on the list). (Oh, and Binary Bonsai is suspect as well…its high rank is at least partially due to a default link on a popular Wordpress template.)
Subway maps that you can put on
Subway maps that you can put on your iPod. Currently available: DC, NYC, Boston, and Hong Kong. Good one for the 50 Fun Things To Do With Your iPod list. (via coolhunting)
A contemporary photo taken with a circa-1914
A contemporary photo taken with a circa-1914 Kodak. For some reason I always thought old photos looked old because they were old. But really it’s mostly the camera’s doing.
A company called Enologix uses spectroscopy and
A company called Enologix uses spectroscopy and chromotography to predict wine scores with a high level of accuracy. Critic Robert Parker introduced wine scoring (here’s his perfect score list) but some say that his dominance is not such a good thing.
Making sense of the appendix, the one
Making sense of the appendix, the one in your body, not the one in books. “Perhaps the appendix lifted the odds that our ancestors could resist childhood diseases and live to childbearing years.”
Custom chrome emblems for your car, Segway,
Custom chrome emblems for your car, Segway, motorbike, or laptop computer.
Suggestions for the name of our solar
Suggestions for the name of our solar system’s tenth planet from New Scientist readers. Neither Matt Webb’s suggestion (Daes) nor this suggestion on LJ (America) are on the list.
Following the elimination of tipping at Per
Following the elimination of tipping at Per Se, an op-ed by Steven Shaw says tipping should be abolished in restaurants. (via tmn) Considering the statistics on tipping, perhaps he’s right. For a less refined take, here’s why Reservoir Dog Mr. Pink doesn’t tip.
Newly discovered example of convergent evolution: frogs
Newly discovered example of convergent evolution: frogs in Madagascar and South America who independently developed poisonous defense systems.
Two bloggers get married via their blogs.
Two bloggers get married via their blogs. Texas law requires a public declaration of the marriage with local witnesses and their blog posts satisfy that requirement. (via mr)
An ethical will is a good way
An ethical will is a good way to pass on your values to your descendants. Here’s a template and some advice to get you started.
Salon profile of 37signals and “the next
Salon profile of 37signals and “the next web revolution”. Also noted (for the first time in public, I think): Adaptive Path’s secret web app is “a tool to help bloggers measure traffic and other stats on their site [and] will be out by the end of the year”.
The Onion: Police Search of Backpack Reveals
The Onion: Police Search of Backpack Reveals Explosive Bestseller. “The Union Square bestseller is the latest in a series of dramatic items discovered in New York since random subway bag searches began. On July 27, a hip-hop CD containing over 75 F-bombs led to the suspension of train service for 18 hours.”
Google corporate timeline. Might be old, but
Google corporate timeline. Might be old, but I’ve never seen it before. (via Subtraction)
The Amateur Gourmet celebrates a year of
The Amateur Gourmet celebrates a year of eating in NYC with a list of his restaurant reviews. Judging by the length of the list, an upgrade from amateur status might be in order.
Sushi is doing well in many cultures
Sushi is doing well in many cultures outside Japan and the US, showing up in places like Brazil and Moscow.
Google News now offering RSS/Atom feeds. (via Zawodony)
Google News now offering RSS/Atom feeds. (via Zawodony)
The present future
Perhaps this is impossible or unfair, but can we have a discussion about where technology and user experience on the web are headed without using any of the following words or concepts:
Ajax, web services, weblogs, Google, del.icio.us, Flickr, folksonomy, tags, hacks, podcasting, wikis, bottom-up, RSS, citizen journalism, mobile, TiVo, the Long Tail, and convergence.
That all seems like the present and past, not the future, no? “Web 2.0” arrived a year or two ago at least and we’re still talking about it like it’s just around the corner. What else is out there? Anything? (Note: This is not an attempt to bring the current “is it really Web 2.0?” discussion (I could care less) here. I’m genuinely interesting in what’s out there, if anything.)
Fantasy Fashion League is fashion’s answer to
Fantasy Fashion League is fashion’s answer to fantasy football and rotisserie baseball. Pick your favorite designers and earn points when their fashions show up in magazines. (via E&N) Related: NY Times ombudsman Daniel Okrent helped invent rotisserie baseball?
NYC’s best off-the-menu items from an Eater
NYC’s best off-the-menu items from an Eater contest. The winning entry? Spaghetti Bolognese at Peter Luger.
Space Shuttle Discovery lands safely, thank goodness.
Space Shuttle Discovery lands safely, thank goodness.
The Christian paradox in the US: “America
The Christian paradox in the US: “America is simultaneously the most professedly Christian of the developed nations and the least Christian in its behavior.”
Grant McCracken offers an alternate theory for
Grant McCracken offers an alternate theory for why crime fell in the 90s: rap music replaced violence among urban youths as a way to gain esteem. Compare with Levitt and Gladwell.
Why do people laugh? It’s a way
Why do people laugh? It’s a way for humans to bond, a sign that the danger has passed, or to feel superior to others. New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff is also doing research on humor.
An account of the discovery of Einsteinium
An account of the discovery of Einsteinium and Fermium, elements 99 and 100 on the periodic table. They were generated by the detonation of Mike, the first hydrogen bomb to be tested.
Thomas Keller’s Per Se is getting rid
Thomas Keller’s Per Se is getting rid of tipping, opting for a 20% flat rate for service to be split between the entire staff.
Freakonomists Levitt and Dubner: where did all
Freakonomists Levitt and Dubner: where did all the crack cocaine go? Well, it didn’t. Go. But the crime did.
CNET rounds up their top 10 dot-com flops
CNET rounds up their top 10 dot-com flops and in the process blames everyone but the technology media (*cough*) for the excess of the times. Webvan, Pets.com, and Kozmo top the list.
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