Open all night

The Real Reason Why Romney Is Up in Florida

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:04:26 +0100

The Real Reason Why Romney Is Up in Florida:

Gingrich campaign: $1,157,731 Winning Our Future (Gingrich super PAC): $2,232,074 Total pro-Gingrich: $3,389,805

Romney campaign: $6,933,904 Restore Our Future (Romney super PAC): $8,455,383 Total pro-Romney: $15,389,287

Study: Pythons Killing Everglades Wildlife

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 01:32:45 +0100

Study: Pythons Killing Everglades Wildlife:

Tens of thousands of Burmese pythons, which are native to Southeast Asia, are believed to be living in the Everglades, where they thrive in the warm, humid climate. While many were apparently released by their owners, others may have escaped from pet shops during Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and have been reproducing ever since. Burmese pythons can grow to be 26 feet long and more than 200 pounds, and they have been known to swallow animals as large as alligators. They and other constrictor snakes kill their prey by coiling around it and suffocating it.

Swallowed by a whale — a true tale?

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:45:00 +0100

Swallowed by a whale — a true tale?:

“If, I’ll pretend for a moment, you were swallowed, it would happen like this: You would first be chewed. Sperm whales’ teeth are 8 inches long – longer than most blades in your knife drawer. Then you would be gulped to the fauces, the back of the mouth, and forced down. Here is where Bartley apparently touched the quivering sides of the throat. You would also touch the throat, perhaps claw at the sides of the throat like you would sliding down an icy slope. There would be no air, and you’d suffocate in acid and water, but, we’re saying, you somehow survive. Imagine a black and mucous-smothered tube sock slipping over you.

You would then enter the first stomach, coined by 19thcentury naturalist Thomas Beale as the holding bag. It’s lined with thick, soft and white cuticle. At 7 feet long by 3 feet wide and shaped like a big egg, the first stomach would easily fit you. If you were kept in the holding bag for over 24 hours, you would likely be joined by squid, but a coconut or shark might come, too. Most squid that sperm whales swallow are bioluminescent — the neon flying squid is a favorite. So in no time at all you’d be bathing in a pool of phosphorescence, a slew of green-yellow light winking around you like you were standing in a field in Maine come July when all the fireflies are sparking up. The rest would be black, very black.

As the stomach acids broke you down, you would continue through three smaller stomachs — a chain of membranous, acid-filled cavities. The second stomach is S-shaped, and the third is more like the first, only smaller. Then, liquidated, you would ooze into the intestine, and eventually leave the whale as excrement, floating out of the anus and into the cold deep ocean, dissolving still further until you had become so small as debris that you were indistinguishable from the ocean itself. You would lap against whaling ships looking for whales.

The only part of you that might not be digested would be your bones. Squid beaks, equally, aren’t digested — they pass through the sperm whale’s intestines wholly. Along the way, the beaks scrape the intestinal lining, creating scar tissue, which is then passed in its new form, ambergris — the intoxicating, aromatic substance used in the most potent perfumes that was worth, in 1869, $97.50 per pound. That’s $1,600 per pound today. The Egyptians burned it as incense. Your sharp fingerbones or splintery skull would rub on the whale’s intestinal lining, and your remains would scrape up the most beautiful smell on earth.”

Salon (via Linkmachinego)

Photo du jour.

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:18:50 +0100

Photo du jour.

Eh bien c’est clair, l’album de Lana Del Rey est nul. Obésité et promotion commerciale...

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:06:00 +0100

Eh bien c’est clair, l’album de Lana Del Rey est nul. Obésité et promotion commerciale outrancière. Beurk !

Giant squid in Jules Vernes’ Vingt Mille Lieux Sous Les...

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:48:58 +0100

Giant squid in Jules Vernes’ Vingt Mille Lieux Sous Les Mers.

Santorum's Tragic Sweater Vest

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:44:26 +0100

Santorum's Tragic Sweater Vest:

The logo-emblazoned sweater vest is similar in that it is difficult to imagine someone genuinely wanting to wear such a thing. The reading that it makes Santorum resemble the common man misses the fact that the common man finds himself encased in such garments only under duress: The job requires it; it’s in the employee handbook; corporate said I had to; the boss would frown upon me if I didn’t. It is in fact an object of tragedy. It speaks of acquiescence, capitulation, a bitter surrender to cruel fate. It speaks, in a word, of losing.

BioHaven Floating Islands

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:59:00 +0100

BioHaven Floating Islands:

BioHaven® Floating Islands are constructed floating treatment wetlands composed of a buoyant mat planted with wetland or garden plants . They are used to filter nitrates, phosphates, heavy metals, and other run-off contaminants while creating a micro-habitat for surrounding species, enhancing the ecology of the water body. These buoyant mats are constructed with a matrix of fibers in which one could describe as a “pot-scrub” or “loofah”. This matrix is composed of 100% recycled plastic from drinking bottles whose layers are bonded together using marine foam, another factor in providing the mats’ buoyancy.

Material Library

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:54:06 +0100

Material Library:

The GSD Materials Collection is a physical and digital collection of materials, ranging from innovative, new materials to those found everyday in the constructed environment. The collection allows for both intuitive, tactile browsing, and non-linear searching of various database categories. Each material entry is composed of a physical sample linked to an online database that may be searched by name, vendor, composition, form, production process, or property. By foregrounding material composition and functional traits, the collection allows users to rethink conventional applications and promote material experimentation in design practice. Explorations in material research find expression through publications, exhibitions, colloquia, and course offerings that examine the research interests of the GSD.

Roman Krznaric demands 'Stop the Clock!'

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:48:52 +0100

Roman Krznaric demands 'Stop the Clock!':

Try a chronological diet, abandoning your watch for a week and covering the clocks in your home. Then embark on slow-time activities: visit just one painting in an art exhibition, or stand in a park each morning to spot a single change and bring stillness into your day. Speak with new metaphors: give your leisure time more value by calling it “time on” rather than “time off”. This is no manifesto for inaction. If you’re procrastinating about changing careers, know that life is short and start stepping towards a different future. And if there are tensions at home, what are you waiting for? There’s no time like right now to clear them up.

Thinking about Thinking

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 21:33:00 +0100

Thinking about Thinking:

Sam Harris interviews Daniel Kahneman on his blog.

Radley Balko: SWAT Raids, Stun Guns, And Pepper Spray: Why The Government Is Ramping Up The Use Of Force

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 12:18:09 +0100

Radley Balko: SWAT Raids, Stun Guns, And Pepper Spray: Why The Government Is Ramping Up The Use Of Force:

The amount force government authorities use, then, is no longer based not on what sort of threat a suspect poses to the government or those around him, but on the political implications of the laws being enforced. It isn’t difficult to see how we get from here to pepper-spraying and beating peaceful protesters, particularly if the protesters are becoming a thorn in the side of politicians or are losing support from the public.

The Shard's bleeding edge: anatomy of a 21st century skyscraper

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 12:14:53 +0100

The Shard's bleeding edge: anatomy of a 21st century skyscraper:

Upon its completion in May 2012, the 1,017 foot tall skyscraper Shard London Bridge will be the tallest building in the European Union—but its unmissable presence on the London skyline has been felt for over a year. Since the completion of its 804 foot, 72 story concrete core in early 2011, the Shard has been the tallest building in London. In a city, country, and continent not famed for skyscrapers, the Shard more than stands out. Observant Londoners have watched as glass facades have crept up around the core over the past weeks and months. It’s impossible to look at the Shard without extrapolating its lines upwards to a point, completing the pyramidal form in the mind’s eye (crick in the neck notwithstanding). But mock-ups of the completed tower show a pinnacle characterized by a fragmented crown of glassy splinters, not a neat pyramid. Architect Renzo Piano, who conceived the Shard, has compared its shape to “a 16th century pinnacle or the mast of a very tall ship.” But “Shard” is the name that stuck, a name reportedly coined by Piano after criticism from the group English Heritage that his design resembled a “shard of glass.”

Internet Access and the New Divide - NYTimes.com

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:42:52 +0100

Internet Access and the New Divide - NYTimes.com:

Over the last decade, cheap Web access over phone lines brought millions to the Internet. But in recent years the emergence of services like video-on-demand, online medicine and Internet classrooms have redefined the state of the art: they require reliable, truly high-speed connections, the kind available almost exclusively from the nation’s small number of very powerful cable companies. Such access means expensive contracts, which many Americans simply cannot afford.

Iran’s First Great Satan Was England - NYTimes.com

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:40:47 +0100

Iran’s First Great Satan Was England - NYTimes.com:

Most Iranians, like most people anywhere, would deplore the idea of thugs storming into a foreign embassy. Nonetheless, some may have felt a flicker of satisfaction. Even an outrage like this, they might have said, is a trifle compared with the generations of torment Britain inflicted on their country.

‘Red River’ Buckle From Film Disappears Before Auction - NYTimes.com

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:39:11 +0100

‘Red River’ Buckle From Film Disappears Before Auction - NYTimes.com:

In the 1948 film “Red River,” there is a scene in which John Wayne traces the outlines of a new cattle brand in the dirt. He draws a “D” for Thomas Dunson, the rough and rowdy rancher he portrays, next to two wavy lines, for the banks of the Red River.

Alain de Botton on Religion for Atheists

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 14:26:48 +0100

Alain de Botton on Religion for Atheists:

Alain de Botton is a non-believer. Yet he argues religions have important things to teach the secular world. He’s written a book explaining ways in which atheists should look to religion for some solutions to contemporary ills. In doing so, he hopes to move the tired old debate between atheists and believers onto more fruitful ground. Blending deep respect with total impiety, de Botton proposes that agnostics and atheists should stop mocking religions and start stealing from them.

Huge Company Bans Internal Email, Switches Totally To Facebook-Type-Stuff And Instant Messaging

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 01:41:47 +0100

Huge Company Bans Internal Email, Switches Totally To Facebook-Type-Stuff And Instant Messaging:

This trend at the corporate level mirrors email trends among young people—the future workforce. As the chart below shows, the use of web-based email by the younger crowd is plummeting, as these folks communicate via Facebook, IM, and texting instead. Email is still an extremely convenient way to communicate, so it’s not likely to go anywhere. But there’s no question that email is losing share of digital communications, including in the workplace. And that’s not good for companies that depend on it for their livelihoods.

Gingrich May Test Voters' Limits - NYTimes.com

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 01:20:28 +0100

Gingrich May Test Voters' Limits - NYTimes.com:

The acid test of this growing openness may be the new Republican presidential front-runner, Newt Gingrich . His personal past is messier than most. He is on his third marriage, and he left his first two wives when they were in poor health and while he was having affairs. Also, his version of events is replete with gaps and changing and contradictory stories; both of his two former wives have questioned his moral character. Finally, he is the front-runner of a party in which a sizable chunk of the base consists of family-values conservatives who will have to decide between Mr. Gingrich’s rhetoric and his past.

BBC News - WWII bomb in Rhine near Koblenz successfully defused

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 01:14:28 +0100

BBC News - WWII bomb in Rhine near Koblenz successfully defused:

Bomb disposal experts in the German city of Koblenz have successfully defused two bombs from World War II found in the riverbed of the Rhine. They were discovered when water levels fell because of a prolonged dry spell. The bigger of the two bombs weighed 1.8 tonnes and was dropped by the Royal Air Force between 1943 and 1945. Nearly half the city’s population - 45,000 - has been evacuated, including the inhabitants of two hospitals, seven nursing homes and a prison. It is the biggest bomb disposal operation in Germany since 1945.