MemeWars07.22.10

This may be useful in the car.

Quick guide to inventory items I may have missed:

Posted via email from Mark LaPete's OmniNetMark™

MemeWars07.21.10

This article about the Origins of the Illuminati is credible.

The world is becoming quite complex to consider: this requires a lot of brain cycles.

Someone was thinking ahead when they decided to do this!

I believe this will be the next camera I get. I don't like the fact that most new point & shoot cameras have done away with the viewfinder (thus the 'point-and-shoot' moniker) but the flexibility of the 3" lcd screen on this beauty should work.

This confirms that I will be dropping cable tv soon.

I'm not sure what this is, but it sounds cool, check it out.

This is Facebook's official blog.

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MemeWars07.19.10

This is all I can take today. Too much. Really. Then I watched this!!!

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MemeWars07.16.10

This is cool:

... and back to the future (I missed doing this yesterday, oops!) ...

MemeWars07.08.10

Reply

for Ben&Mom:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/07/business/economy/07generation.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all

http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/08/perfect-citizen-confidential-nsa-surveillance-program-revealed/

http://code.google.com/p/moonblink/wiki/Tricorder

http://www.gtop100.com/out.php?id=50141

http://www.otcpicks.com/2279-Penny-Stock-Technical-Indicators.htm

http://entrepreneur.venturebeat.com/2010/07/08/everything-i-learned-in-business-i-learned-from-these-3-charts/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Venturebeat+%28VentureBeat%29

http://theprodesigner.com/newsletter-designs/

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100708/bs_yblog_upshot/buffett-recounts-the-best-advice-hes-ever-received

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MemeWars07.15.10

This is a great initiative by Google to help communities plan future infrastructure improvements with their broadband needs in mind. Take some time to share the info with community leaders, local highway departments etc.

(courtesy: Ars Technica)

Working for Bose Corporation puts me in touch with much geekiness on a regular basis. But this article on Ars Technica tweaks my antennae! (all three of 'em!)

This is just in case.

One for the Road.

Posted via email from Mark LaPete's OmniNetMark™

How we subsidize fossil fuels...

How we subsidize fossil fuels

Maggie Koerth-Baker at 6:24 PM Wed

This is a little old, but I ran across it on Jon Taplin's blog recently and I think it does a good job of making an important point—fossil fuel, as an industry, isn't self supporting. No matter where we get our energy from, we're propping up production with tax dollars.

Couple things to keep in mind with this graph:

Not all fossil fuel subsidies are evil. (Frankly, I think we can drop the fossil fuels part and say "not all subsidies are evil", but I digress.) The Environmental Law Institute—who compiled the research and created this graphic—points out a great example: The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. That's calculated under subsidies to fossil fuels. It's by no means a big part of fossil fuel subsidies, but it's there.

This accounting doesn't include all spending. For instance, there are programs that, arguably, spend money as a direct result of the fossil fuel industry, but that aren't technically subsidies. The Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, say, or, more controversially, money spent on military campaigns at least partially influenced by a desire to stabilize/defend/friendly-fy oil-producing countries.

Read the full paper this graph is based on. See the full graph with footnotes.

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MemeWars07.14.10

The Arm! This is a great design for an articulating arm I've been wanting to install as a coffee table in my living room! I would build it from nice reclaimed wood and metal parts but I've not had a good example to draw from for the design: Now I do!

Here's a Heads-up out to Zack with This idea: What about Smart-couture like This?

I'm not sure how accurate this would be, but it could be useful for any amateur writers out there (like me!)

I know I'm in trouble after reading this: must get off my ass!

And then I see this and this and return to the couch.

POTD 

**********************************************************

and back to the Future... previous post of things that I find interesting, perhaps you will too:

MemeWars07.09.10

Reply

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1033503

http://jezebel.com/5582562/clueless-secretary-makes-for-hilarious-office-email-thread

http://www.epicwinapp.com/

http://slodive.com/inspiration/mind-blowing-digital-works-of-designer-kratos/

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/07/09/octokiss.html

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MemeWars07.13.10

Posts that work from work and keep me thinking ahead to the future. The title "MemeWars" is another way of saying 'memoirs' with the long 'e' in meme keeping things related to thought and future iterations of thoughts from the world-at-large. Rambling on...

This will make some future soldier's life miserable when it fails to comply:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/13/revenge-of-the-quadrocopters-now-they-move-in-packs-video/

I'd rather go through this at the airport and answer a few questions like "Are you carrying anything that blows up?" or "Do you expect to make it to the end of the flight?":

http://dvice.com/archives/2010/07/are-you-lying-a.php

This is a wonderful 'food for thought' nugget to chew on:

http://www.good.is/post/what-futurists-actually-do/

Consider this for making sure your future self is safe from zombie attack:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/13/how-to-effectively-manage-your-facebook-privacy-settings-with-l/

This should be interesting:

http://www.visualeconomics.com/food-consumption-in-america_2010-07-12/

My plan for updating this blog is to retroactively post one past 'MemeWars' post with each new one going forward until all caught up. (Going back to the future so to speak.) Here's yesterday for now:

MemeWars07.12.10

Check Time Capsule:

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/07/apple-to-replace-time-capsules-with-dodgy-power-supplies.ars

http://appinventor.googlelabs.com/about/

http://mashable.com/2010/07/12/google-app-inventor/

http://blog.asmartbear.com/startup-lesson.html

http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/100-best-places-to-live-in-america-2010-edition

http://lifehacker.com/5584924/the-holy-grail-of-ubiquitous-plain+text-capture

For Matt:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_von_Stuck

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Böcklin

http://dvice.com/archives/2010/07/customize-gmail.php

http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/3847/the_occult_world_of_cg_jung.html

http://gizmodo.com/5585143/how-to-skip-the-android-tutorial

http://kotaku.com/5585099/the-man-who-will-bring-us-to-the-fourth-dimension

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The True Cost of Homeownership

The following infographic from CreditLoan.com offers a sobering look at how much it can cost to own a home. It also compares renting to buying, and your costs in each case. For the original article, please visit: Is It Better To Buy Or Rent?

via moolanomy.com

Take your time; think about it. Owning a home is a long-term deal.

Posted via web from Mark LaPete's OmniNetMark™

"Is Your Trip Necessary?"

Oil spill image inspired by WWII-era posters

Maggie Koerth-Baker at 8:00 AM Mon

J.P. Townley sent me this image, which he based on World War II-era posters reminding people on the home front to conserve fuel for the war effort. At his website you can download a PDF of the modern version and see the historic piece that inspired it.

Now, all we need is a "When you ride alone, you ride with Tony Hayward!" poster:

Posted via email from Mark LaPete's OmniNetMark™

Summer! Solstice!

All Beauty, Flower and Light of Life: Summer!

ENJOY.

 

Posted via email from Mark LaPete's OmniNetMark™

Congratulations to Dr. Amar Bose...

Bose and Dolby to receive prestigious IEEE awards

Two of the biggest names in sound are going to get two of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)'s highest honors next week. Ray Dolby and Maxwell Bose will respectively receive the IEEE Edison Medal and the IEEE/Royal Society of Edinburgh Wolfson James Clerk Maxwell Award at an awards ceremony on June 26.

The Edison Medal is akin to the Nobel Prize for Technology. Since its creation in 1904 it's been awarded to inventors and engineers like Alexander Graham Bell, William Pickering, and Vladimir Zworykin, pioneers in telephony, space exploration, and television technology. Dolby is receiving the medal for the work he's done over the last 50 years in noise reduction technology, starting with the algorithm he created in 1960 to reduce hissing on analog recordings. Since 1965, Dolby Labs has been one of the biggest names in sound engineering.

The Wolfson James Clerk Maxwell Award isn't nearly as old as the Edison Medal, but it's still a prestigious award. It was established in 2006 as a way of recognizing people or groups whose work has significantly advanced electronics or electrical engineering. Amar G. Bose, chairman and technical director of the Bose Corporation, will receive the award for his work in consumer electronics and engineering education. Over his career, he's researched everything from sound technology to automotive suspensions, and he spent over 45 years teaching engineering at MIT.

The awards ceremony will be televised live over IEEE.tv on June 26.

— Will Greenwald

via bitstream.soundandvisionmag.com

... very proud to bask in the glow.
Many Thanks to Dr. Bose for all his energy and hard work!
Thanks as well to Will over at Sound+Vision Magazine for the excellent post.

Posted via web from Mark LaPete's OmniNetMark™

Time Enough for Love...

Got this ( ) CLICK HERE from my favorite blogsite < www.boingboing.net > and love the presentation, the message and the meaning for me. We can all benefit from slowing the heck down and spending communal time together. In meal times, doing projects together, simple things that when 'returned-to' turn back the clock on our ever-increasing pace and pressure. Watch with a loved one! Or Ones!

Posted via email from Mark LaPete's OmniNetMark™

Caught in the oil - The Big Picture

via boston.com

And this is just the beginning...

Posted via web from Mark LaPete's OmniNetMark™

Why, indeed...

via farmersalmanac.com

Why Do We Celebrate Memorial Day | Farmers' Almanac

Posted via web from Mark LaPete's OmniNetMark™

Reputation Management and Social Media

• View Online
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Explore Survey Questions

• View Online
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Overview

More than half (57%) of adult internet users say they have used a search engine to look up their name and see what information was available about them online, up from 47% who did so in 2006. Young adults, far from being indifferent about their digital footprints, are the most active online reputation managers in several dimensions. For example, more than two-thirds (71%) of social networking users ages 18-29 have changed the privacy settings on their profile to limit what they share with others online.

via pewinternet.org

From the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project.
I'm surprised at that the numbers are lower than I would expect.

Posted via web from Mark LaPete's OmniNetMark™

A March to Amend the Constitution...

via app.e2ma.net

Please check out and support MoveToAmend.org in our efforts to remove corporate personhood and return freedom of speech to the human citizens of this country. The Supreme Court's decision in and against Citizens United is a travesty of justice.

Posted via web from Mark LaPete's OmniNetMark™

Frank Frazetta, RIP

Frank Frazetta, RIP

(Via BoingBoing.net) Mark Frauenfelder at 10:45 AM Monday

The artist Frank Frazetta, whose luscious oil paintings for science fiction and fantasy
paperback covers were usually better than the stories themselves, died today.
He was 82 and one of my favorite artists. Comics Beat has more.

And Do not miss the documentary:  Amazing life and story and life! The mold is broken.

Posted via email from Mark LaPete's OmniNetMark™

It's Time To Take Back Our Democracy from Big Bank lobbyists!Showdown on K Street | Showdown in America

via showdowninamerica.org

Posted via web from Mark LaPete's OmniNetMark™

The Best Jobs In America

via focus.com

Posted via web from Mark LaPete's OmniNetMark™

Hey Heartland, you'd better get your head out of your ass..

via visualeconomics.com

... before all you can afford is healthcare from Walmart and the Chinese.

Posted via web from Mark LaPete's OmniNetMark™

Is it OK to Mix and Match?...

via executivehm.com

I don't smoke Green Tea, I embrace nuts, I be a baby, and I eat my floss daily! Oh, yeah, and don't forget: I drink outgoing holidays, burp. Exsqueeze me.
Thanks, "How to live to 100" and GDS Publishing

Posted via web from Mark LaPete's OmniNetMark™

A Great Work of InfoArt...

via royal.pingdom.com

"Google facts and figures" by Royal Pingdom
WOW! Staggers the mind. 2009 profits of $6.5B - Billion!

Posted via web from Mark LaPete's OmniNetMark™

Love infographics like this...

Artist turns space junk data into fascinating graphic

There's a lot of space junk orbiting the Earth, and graphic artist Michael Paukner knows exactly how to show it to us. Click on the graphic in the gallery below to see the full-sized version of this illuminating diagram showing data from the UCS (Union of Concerned Scientists) Satellite Database.

At first, we yanks might be disappointed to see that Russia has more satellites orbiting the earth than the United States. But Amurrca, as some like to call it, however dysfunctional it is on the planet Earth, has more orbiting functional satellites than any other country. Hooray for us!

Flickr, via Gizmodo

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HOWARD ZINN, RIP

My condolences to the Zinn family.
(Thanks, too, bOINGbOING.net) 

Howard Zinn, RIP

DAVID PESCOVITZ ON JANUARY 27, 2010 7:30 PM
Howard Zinn, radical historian, professor, and author, has died. He was 87. 

Boston Globe obituary (Thanks, Gil Kaufman)

If you don't know of him, and you call yourself "an American," there is a huge gap in your education. Read up, my friends. 

Posted via email from Mark LaPete's OmniNetMark™

"We the corporations" | Move to Amend | Please Sign this Petition...

On January 21, 2010, with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government. Human beings are people; corporations are legal fictions. The Supreme Court is misguided in principle, and wrong on the law. In a democracy, the people rule.

We Move to Amend.

We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United, and move to amend our Constitution to:

• Firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.
• Guarantee the right to vote and to participate, and to have our votes and participation count.
• Protect local communities, their economies, and democracies against illegitimate "preemption" actions by global, national, and state governments.

Signed by 30,977 and counting . . .

Initial Signatories:

Adrienne Maree Brown, Ruckus Society
Alec Loorz, Kids vs Global Warming
Andrew Kimbrell, International Center for Technology Assessment
Andy Gussert, National Trade Activist
Anne Feeney, musician
Baldemar Velasquez, President, Farm Labor Organizing Committee
Ben Manski, attorney, Exec. Director, Liberty Tree
Benno Friedman, photographer
Benson Scotch, former Staff Counsel to Sen. Leahy, U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee
Bill Fletcher, Exec. Editor, BlackCommentator.com
Bill McKibben, founder, 350.org
Bill Moyer, Backbone Campaign
Brad Friedman, Publisher, The BRAD BLOG
Brad Thacker, Be The Change USA
Brett Bursey, Exec. Director, South Carolina Progressive Network
Brett Kimberlin, Director, Justice Through Music
Brian McLaren, Christian activist & author
Carl Davidson, Progressive America Rising
Carolyn Oppenheim, Shays 2
Charlie Cray, Center for Corporate Policy
Chris Kromm, Executive Director, Institute for Southern Studies
Dal LaMagna, founder, Tweezerman, Inc.
Dave Wells, formerly Board of Directors, Sierra Club
David Cobb, initiator of 2004 Ohio Recount
David Gespass, president, National Lawyers Guild
David Korten, author of When Corporations Rule the World
David Rovics, musician
David Swanson, AfterDowningStreet.org
David Wells, Jr., Nashville Urban Harvest
Dean Myerson, Executive Director, Green Institute
Diane Wittner & Margaret Flowers, Chesapeake Citizens
Dr. Jill Stein, candidate for Governor of Massachusetts
Ed Garvey, attorney at law, editor, FightingBob.com
Emily Levy, Velvet Revolution
Fran Korten, Editor, YES! Magazine
Frank Arundel, activist
Gary Zuckett, WV Citizen Action
George Friday, National Coordinator, IPPN
George Martin, United for Peace & Justice
Georgia Kelly, Praxis Peace Institute
Glen Ford, Executive Editor, BlackAgendaReport.com
Greg Coleridge, NE OH American Friends Service Committee
Howard Zinn, historian
Jackie Cabasso, Executive Director, Western States Legal Foundation
James Gustave Speth, Distinguished Senior Fellow, Demos
Jan Edwards, writer
Jane Anne Morris, author, Gaveling Down The Rabble
Jeff Cohen, founder, FAIR
Jeff Milchen, founder, ReclaimDemocracy.org
Jeffrey Short, Ph.D., Pacific Science Director, OCEANA
Jerome Scott, League of Revolutionaries for a New America
Jill Bussiere & Sanda Everette, Co-Chairs, Green Party of the U.S.
James M. Cullen, editor of The Progressive Populist
Jim Hightower, author, columnist, and radio commentator
Joel Bleifuss, Editor & Publisher, In These Times
John E. Peck, Executive Director, Family Farm Defenders
John Nichols, Washington Correspondent, The Nation
John Rensenbrink, President, Green Horizon Foundation
John Stauber, author, Weapons of Mass Deception
Jonathan Frieman, Co-founder, Center for Corporate Policy
Jonathan Tasini, candidate, U.S. Senate, NY
Josh Healey, Youth Speaks Josh Lerner, The New School for Social Research
Josh Silver, Executive Director, Free Press
Judith Pedersen-Benn, Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community
Kai Huschke, Envision Spokane
Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County
Karen Dolan, Cities for Progress
Katherine Forrest, MD; Co-Founder, Commonweal Institute
Ken Reiner, inventor and founder, Kaynar Corp.
Kevin Danaher, Executive Co-Producer, Green Festivals
Kevin Zeese, Executive Director, TrueVote.US
Leah Bolger, CDR, USN (Ret), Bring the Guard Home! It's the Law.
Lewis Pitts, Lawyer, Legal Aid of NC
Lisa Graves, Executive Director, Center for Media and Democracy
Lori Price, Managing Editor, Citizens for Legitimate Government
Luis A. Cuevas, National Director, Progressive Push
Makani Themba-Nixon, Executive Director, The Praxis Project
Margo Baldwin, Publisher, Chelsea Green
Mark Crispin Miller, author, Fooled Again
Mary Zepernick, Program on Corporations Law and Democracy
Marybeth Gardam, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
Matt Nelson, Just Cause
Matt Rothschild, Editor, The Progressive
Maya Schenwar & Matt Renner, Truthout
Medea Benjamin, co-founder, Code Pink
Michael Albert, Z Communications
Michael Bonnano, OpEdNews
Michael Marx, Corporate Ethics International
Michael Shuman, attorney, economic, author of "The Small-Mart Revolution"
Mike Ferner, President, Veterans for Peace
Mimi Kennedy, actress, activist
Miriam Simos, Starhawk, activist and writer
Nancy Price, Alliance for Democracy
Nick Pavloff, Jr., Gulf of Alaska Aleut from Kodiak Island
Norman Solomon, author, co-chair, Healthcare Not Warfare campaign
Patrick Reinsborough, SmartMeme
Paul Saginaw, founder, Zingerman's, Inc.
Prof. Peter Gabel, School of Law, New College of California
Prof. Victor Wallis, Managing Editor, Socialism & Democracy
Rabbi Arthur Waskow
Rabbi Michael Lerner
Rep. Michael Fisher, House of Representatives, Vermont
Rev. Edward Pinkney, Black Autonomy Network Community Organization
Rev. Lennox Yearwood, President, Hip Hop Caucus
Richard Mazess, Prof. Medical Physics, UW-Madison, CEO of Lunar Corp & Bone Care Intl.
Riki Ott, Executive Director, Ultimate Civics
Robert McChesney, professor, co-author, The Death and Life of American Journalism
Ronnie Cummins, founder, Grassroots Netroots Alliance
Sally Castleman, Election Defense Alliance
Sam Smith, Editor, Progressive Review
Sarah Manski, CEO, PosiPair.com
Shahid Buttar, Rule of Law Institute
Ted Glick, climate change activist
Ted Nace, author, Gangs of America: The Rise of Corporate Power
Thom Hartmann, nation's #1 nationally syndicated progressive talk show host
Tia Oros & Christopher Peters, Seventh Generation Fund for Indian Development
Tiffiniy Cheng, Executive Director, A New Way Forward
Tim Carpenter, Executive Director, Progressive Democrats of America
Tom Hayden, activist
Ward Morehouse, chair, National Lawyers Guild's Committee on Corporations

* organizations listed for identification purposes only

via movetoamend.org

An end to false, flag-waving patriotism. Let's vote back to basic democracy. And remember:
“…there is no Form of Government but what may be a Blessing to the People if well administred (sic); and I believe farther that this is likely to be well adminstred (sic) for a Course of Years, and can only end in Despotism as other Forms have done before it, when the People shall become so corrupted as to need Despotic Government, being incapable of any other.” (From Benjamin Franklin: Speech in the Convention on the Constitution, unpublished, September 17, 1787)
And Jefferson knew it too: “I hope we shall... crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and to bid defiance to the laws of our country.”
~ Thomas Jefferson, letter to George Logan. November 12, 1816

Posted via web from Mark LaPete's OmniNetMark™

Take back Government OF, BY and FOR the PEOPLE...

Constitutional amendment petition: run government for people, not monied interests

The Campaign to Legalize Democracy is circulating a petition in response to yesterday's ruling that legalized unlimited political bribery by corporations in the USA. Signatories include Bill Moyer, Howard Zinn, Jim Hightower, Billl McKibben, and Tom Hayden.

We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United, and move to amend our Constitution to:

* Firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.

* Guarantee the right to vote and to participate, and to have our votes and participation count.

* Protect local communities, their economies, and democracies against illegitimate "preemption" actions by global, national, and state governments.

"We the corporations" (Thanks, Rodney!)

via boingboing.net

... gotta go to work now...

Posted via web from Mark LaPete's OmniNetMark™

Aughts Be Gone!

Happy New Decade!

Farewell, aughts! Illustration above by David Silverman (Thanks, David!).

via boingboing.net

Happy New 2010 to all our family, friends and colleagues!
Peace and Love!

Posted via web from Mark LaPete's OmniNetMark™

I love pictograms...

via geekologie.com

from Geekologie

Posted via web from Mark LaPete's OmniNetMark™

Thanks to my Alma Mater...

... A great lunch meeting with Bob Appis, Class of '88, hosted by Eric Gustafson, Director of Advancement at Ana Maria College in Paxton, MA.

Bob Appis is the owner of a restaurant in Ogunquit, ME called "The Egg & I" and is a traditional stop for many vacationers to the Maine Coast.

Bob's entrepreneurship and love of great motorcycles was fun to experience and I learned a lot from him and the others there.

Thanks Bob and Eric! 

Posted via email from Mark LaPete's OmniNetMark™

Book of Odds - The Odds of Everyday Life

'); document.write(''); } //-->

via bookofodds.com

This is a winner: the odds of finding a cool site like this are probably a billion to one, unless one listens to public radio during their commute home, like me! Check it out!

Posted via web from Mark LaPete's OmniNetMark™

CEO Compensation heading off the chart...

via awesome.good.is

...this controversial chart illustrates one way of considering the relationship of CEO salary to the working poor. But is there a correlation? Is each a victim of globalization (If making too much jing can be bad for one's Self/Soul.) What do you think? The source (AFL-CIO) seems dubious in that they have a vested interest in portraying the gap as something which requires amelioration. It is time the oppressed stand up and take leave of the status quo. A thought.

Posted via web from Mark LaPete's OmniNetMark™

Some sites of interest to me today:

I love, love, love Hubble anything. An incredible creation and man:

http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/entire/hires/true/ 

I’m excited to be able to try this “WAVE” thingy:

http://mashable.com/2009/10/01/google-wave-get-started/

 Absolutely stunning in the scope of humanity:

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/10/china_celebrates_60_years.html

Great list to add in to make Twitter even more fun and overwhelming!:

http://sneerwell.blogspot.com/2009/10/10-firefox-addons-and-plugins-for.html

 THIS is going to be fun:

http://www.readwriteweb.com/readwritestart/2009/10/6-great-twitter-quiz-and-polli.php

THIS, uhhh, not so much:

http://www.accreditedonlinecolleges.org/blog/2009/50-awesome-open-courses-for-web-writers/

Follow me virtually everywhere:
RealSocialSecurity.com   |  OmniNetMark.com  | MarkLaPete.com
Latest Thoughts:
OMNINETMARK™ 

Connect:

Posted via email from Mark LaPete's OmniNetMark™

Eye tracking study reveals 12 website tactics

Eye tracking studies have revealed valuable information about how people read and interact with websites. One study, Eyetrack III, published a summary of their eye tracking results for news sites.

While this is just one eye tracking study focused on a particular type of site, I think there are instructive nuggets here for any informational website.

via directcreative.com

Very useful information! This article is great because it clearly, concisely enumerates the highlights of the actual study in popular langauge practically anyone can understand. Including me, of course!>)

Posted via web from numbone's posterous

Let's all "Give it Up" for El Sistema USA...

via tedchris.posterous.com

... a great way to give a little to gain a lot, a lot, a lot! Please donate.

Posted via web from numbone's posterous

Pooh bastid...

via boingboing.net

... classic.

Posted via web from numbone's posterous

To Fire the Imagination...

via antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov

... it is Music. Intelligence. Art. Life. And Love too. I see Cities of EcoPods coalescing vibrantly. Terra-forming.

Cred: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

sandmars_mro_big.jpg 2037×2532 pixels

Posted via web from numbone's posterous

A Cat's Bitter Disappointment After Sneaking Up On Pigeon

Check out this website I found at digg.com

this is VERY funny!

Posted via web from numbone's posterous

Ugh...

It's Scutigera Coleoptrata Season!

Posted by Maggie Koerth-Baker , April 15, 2009 2:20 PM | permalink

Maggie Koerth-Baker is a guest blogger on Boing Boing. A freelance science and health journalist, Maggie lives in Minneapolis, brain dumps on Twitter, and writes quite often for mental_floss magazine.

Spring is in the air. The plants are sprouting. That last pile of snow on the shady part of your neighbor's lawn has successfully melted. And your bathroom is alive with terrifying, multilegged creatures that look like this:

Yes, it's active season for everybody's favorite arthropod, scutigera coleoptrata, aka the house centipede. One of these bad boys scuttled across my bathroom floor just last night. My cats, which were born in the South and are still somewhat disappointed by Minnesota's distinct lack of huntable palmetto bugs, think this is great. I'm less enthused. But I figure that when life hands you horrifying household pests, the least it can do is make them interesting.

With that in mind, I present:
Four Facts You Didn't Realize You Wanted To Know About That Thing Living Behind Your Toilet

1.Scutigera Coleoptrata are Not Your Fault
Stop beating yourself up. Unlike, say, cockroaches, house centipedes aren't hanging around because you didn't clean the kitchen. At least, not directly. Scutigera coleoptrata feed on spiders and insects--they're actually pretty beneficial if you're willing to do the devil's arithmetic here and decide that you'd rather have one fast-moving centipede than a colony of roaches. That said, leaving crumbs and half-eaten sandwiches about does create a nice environment for s. coleoptrata's food to grow in. So it might not hurt to clean.

2. Scutigera Coleoptrata are Efficient
They're actually capable of eating several other bugs at once, noshing on one meal while holding onto another with one of their 30 legs. They usually hunt at night, waiting for prey to get close enough that they can jump onto it, lasso it in, or whip it into submission.

3. Scutigera Coleoptrata are Not a Toy
House centipedes do their hunting via a set of venomous front legs. The good news: They won't come looking to start a fight with you and, most of the time, even if you do egg them into attacking, they won't be able to break your skin barrier. The bad news: That's only most of the time. S. coleoptrata has apparently successfully stung humans before. Not life-threatening, it's supposed to feel a lot like a bee sting.

4. Scutigera Coleoptrata Will Not Forget This
Unlike a lot of household pests that can be expected to die shortly after breeding, s. coleoptrata can live as long as seven years. There's a distinct possibility they've been in your house longer than you have. During that time, they can grow to be as big as 1.75 in. long. Unsurprisingly, getting rid of them isn't easy. Sticky traps are often recommended, but the house centipede can escape those by simply breaking off the stuck legs and growing them back later.

Photo courtesy Kenta Hayashi

via boingboing.net

... and compassion for all.

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BELIEVE...

Check out this website I found at digg.com

...DragonBall Baby trick [Pic]

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Break up the Big Banks...

... Let's start the breaking up party...

... Break up the Big Banks, Big Pharma, Big Oil, Big Cars. Repay the debt you have caused for our country. Then we'll start reducing Big Government.

... Support A New Way Forward...

Two weeks ago, we told you about an exciting, youth-led grassroots movement to break up the banks called A New Way Forward.

On Saturday,  A New Way Forward is sponsoring a nationwide day of action to demand that our leaders (1) nationalize (2) reorganize, and (3) decentralize the banks as a first step toward building a more just economy.

On Saturday, come to a rally near you for speeches, street theatre, petition gathering, and phonebanking to Congress. (I'll say a few words at the New York City rally.) Add your voice to this growing movement to demand our tax dollars be used to fix our problems, rather than preserve the fortunes of those who created them. 
http://www.anewwayforward.org/rally-list.php 

If you can't come, make sure our Senators and Representatives hear us by signing our petition to Break Up the Banks: 
http://www.democrats.com/break-up-the-banks

... Break up the Big Banks, Big Pharma, Big Oil, Big Cars. Repay the debt you have caused for our country. Then we'll start reducing Big Government.

-- 
follow me in the virtual:
http://twitter.com/numbone
http://numbone.posterous.com/
http://numbone111.blogspot.com/

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From Harper's...

via harpers.org

... will this be me in my retirement?

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Won't be fooled again...

William K. Black suspects that it was more than greed and incompetence that brought down the U.S. financial sector and plunged the economy in recession — it was fraud. And he would know. When it comes to financial shenanigans, William K. Black, the former senior regulator who cracked down on banks during the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s, has seen pretty much everything. Now an Associate Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri, William K. Black tells Bill Moyers on the JOURNAL that the tool at the very center of mortgage collapse, creating triple-A rated bonds out of "liars' loans" — loans issued without verifying income, assets or employment — was a fraud, and the banks knew it.

Bill Moyers Journal . William K. Black: CSI Bailout | PBS via pbs.org http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04032009/watch.html

... Break up the Big Banks, Big Pharma, Big Oil, Big Cars. Repay the debt you have caused for our country. Then we'll start reducing Big Government.

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Do NOT miss this...

via foxsearchlight.com

... get it on DVD. I mean it: BUY a copy of this movie. Then watch it repeatedly. Live fully. Love forever.

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Tweetingly tweetinged to all my tweetiest...

Birdsong Radio

Posted by Xeni Jardin, April 2, 2009 1:01 PM | permalink

I was just stumbling around in the ambient section of iTunes' radio listings, and found a radio station that plays nothing but recorded birdsongs. I think its' pretty wonderful. birdsongradio.com, embedded above.

via boingboing.net

... truly. Yours.

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He was?!?

"Marx was Right!"

Posted by Richard Metzger, April 1, 2009 11:04 PM | permalink

Richard Metzger is the current Boing Boing guest blogger.

Watching the news with the G20 protesters in London carrying banners reading "Capitalism Failed Us" and "Marx was Right!" I felt quite good about the day's events. In 1983 and 1984, I was living in London and going to protests like this myself and it brought back long-forgotten memories. When I was younger, I considered myself a staunch socialist, but as I got older that way of identifying myself fell away. After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the break-up of the Soviet Union, it seemed like Marxism was something that the world had moved on from and so did I. During the dotcom era, I was as greedy a capitalist as the next guy. Five years ago, slimming my library down for a cross country move, I unemotionally tossed all of my "Karl Marx and related" books. Boy do I regret doing this now!

One recent evening, I was writing something and I thought I'd coined a nifty new phrase to describe a major factor in the economic meltdown: "fictitious capital." I decided to Google the term and it's a good thing that I didn't pat myself on the back too hard because it's something that Karl Marx came up with about 150 years before me. That Google search led me down a Karl Marx rabbit hole that lasted for weeks (My wife, Tara, called it "worse than your reggae phase!"). I bought a new copy of "Capital" and read deep into the night. I emerged a few days later, bleary-eyed, unshaven and proudly declaring myself a socialist again.

The work of Karl Marx is ultra relevant to understanding the world's current financial mess, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Marx has become intellectually indispensable to me again, as if there ever should have been any doubt. It's fascinating to consider that during the time period when Marx was writing "Capital," there were few factories in England --it was largely an agrarian society still-- yet somehow Marx was able to see clearly the mess that we would be in today. He's the most accurate prophet in all of history, there should be no doubt about this. Marx viewed history with a very, very long telescope. How he was able to see so far into the future is a mystery of his particular genius, but Marx accurately extrapolated how capitalism's endgame would play itself out at the very birth of the system. Marx saw how utterly destructive this system would ultimately become. Look around you: Marx was right. If you disagree, well, I have a challenge for you: Start reading Marx's "Capital" and see what you think afterward. Keep an open mind and try to get past the drier chapters up front. It's a richly rewarding intellectual journey to take. There is an online course taught by Professor David Harvey that I found quite helpful, you might want to take in some (or all) of his lectures for chapters that are more difficult to understand. Maybe some of you might want to form an online reading group on Facebook. The important point is to READ Marx again and to rediscover how prescient his ideas really were and how well they explain what's going on today.

The Revenge of Karl Marx by Christopher Hitchens
Marxism (Wikipedia) An excellent overview
Reading Marx’s Capital with David Harvey (13 part video lecture series)

posted in: Economy ,  Old school ,  politics

via boingboing.net

... and he had a bitchin' beard!

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GREEN is GOOD...

White House plans modified Washington Monument in 'carbon-free' National Mall

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One of President Obama's key campaign promises was to make the U.S. a leader in sustainable green energy, and by the looks of this concept, he intends to lead by example. The White House unveiled today a plan for a 10-megawatt wind turbine near the top of The Washington Monument, with underground feeder cables to send the generated power to the D.C. grid.

Boring traditionalists are likely to reject anything that alters the Washington Monument so radically as unpatriotic, but imagine the green message it would send to the rest of the world. Queen Elizabeth recently bought a humungous wind turbine of her own, so Obama clearly believed that America should follow the U.K.'s example and unveil a bold green symbol for America.

In fact, 10 megawatts would actually be enough to power all of the Washington, D.C., metro area, so maybe he plans sells power back to local utility Pepco put a dent in that trillion-dollar federal deficit.

Via The White House

via dvice.com

... in my pockets.

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