Gay Hanky Code

I don't know how it's done in the internet age but I think at least this was once a true practice pre-internet. The list here is exhaustively comprehensive (and somewhat satirical). I'm curious to learn more about this practice and how it standardized.

Shoe-Thrower Monument Removed

Assisted by kids at the Tikrit Orphanage, sculptor Laith al-Amiri on Tuesday erected a huge brown replica of one of the shoes hurled at Bush last month by journalist Muntadhir al-Zaidi during a press conference in Baghdad.

But officials from Salaheddin province told CNN that the monument was removed after a request from the central government, which has charges pending against al-Zaidi -- now in an Iraqi jail.

Link

Math Clock

Broke by Boing again. Etsy Link.

4 Hours of Play in 2 Minutes

Your Brain on Fiction

Boing is too good at breaking interesting stories. Damn them! In this article which quotes "The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) Mental Health Program" the journal, Psychological Science will publish a report that says that reader mirror the actions of characters from the same brain placed than if they were performing the actions.

To me this would provide clues about entering another person's brain via fictional narratives. If an experience is common it will be accessible to a reader that tries to construct it. Or if an experience is expressed through the language of common experience then even though it may be exotic it can also be digestible. If I wrote about walking on the moon and used metaphors of walking in a blow-up castle, or walking underwater, then it may be easier to convey than if I tried explain that the ground on the moon is hard but I'm not as heavy and there is very little air resistance.




Link to the article.

Jackson Pollock's Birthday Today

Amazing!

Cemetaries in Parking Lots

Feast your eyes on the oddities of progress and compromise. This one is the grave of Mary Ellis. According to legend:

Mary, who came to New Brunswick in the 1790s to live with her sister, fell in love with a sea captain who promised to marry her once he returned from his next voyage. The captain then left Mary his horse and sailed off down the Raritan
River. Every day, Mary rode her lover's steed down to the river, hoping to meet him at the water's edge. For years, she gazed at the river, waiting for his return. In 1813, she purchased a plot of land overlooking the river, where she maintained her vigil until her death in 1826. And there she was buried, forever waiting for her captain.
I admit this was a BoingBoing tip. The source is here.

Vigilant Justice for Madoff

Trust fund kids toilet papered-madoff's house with their parent's permission and then called the paper to gloat. They didn't do a very good job though.

Link

Housing sales are up but...

One half of all sales are from foreclosures. Link

Picture of the (Random Interval)

Cupcakes of Catan

Games are entering productive life

I found two examples within the span of a week of games that are being used to aid in productivity. I have imagined sims as a learning curve interface system, perhaps for teaching a new entreprenuer to budget better for example, or a new employee how to operate within a new industry.

Ford's dashboard

In the first case, one game is embedded in Ford's new prototype dashboard for hybrids and helps a driver focus on driving in a fuel efficient manner. If you break and accelerate suddenly alot you burn more fuel so an indicator on the far right will display a withering vine to punish you for it. If you do a good job driving in a fuel efficient manner then you are rewarded with a thriving vine with increasing leaves.



Blog link

Kansas Transportation Tycoon

The other is a calculator created by the Kansas Department of Transportation called T-LINK. It is an online sim for budgeting and building and maintaining roads in Kansas but it goes further.

After completing their program, an option to “Submit your program” is available. KDOT will develop statewide and regional averages based on the submittals. These “average theoretical programs” will eventually be made available on the website and presented to the T-LINK Task force for consideration.

T-LINK

The T-LINK calculator (the game)

Serious Games

I think these are both what are referred to as serious games. I don't know of any other uses of serious games except the wargames of the military (both the computer and boot camp games), so this is interesting to me from games and informatics perspectives. I haven't realized until now how much.

Picture of the (Random Interval)

I was moved and it makes me feel like a sap

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Top Ten Online Tools to Connect with the Obama Administration

It's pretty exciting to see so many ways to "communicate". I think the nations first CTO is an interesting discussion, and I have not looked at USA Service but I hear the clarion call.

Link

Bush Street is now Obama Street

Allegedly someone changed all of the signs for Bush Street from Presidio to Battery.


View Larger Map


So says BoingBoing.

Shift Happens

Here's a video that gives a little imagination boost. It gets my informatics blood going, but even more it make me think about our brief taxonomy chat at Casa Ramos.

I should self-educate myself more.

Shift Happens

Definition of a "salvo"

1 a: a simultaneous discharge of two or more guns in military action or as a salute b: the release all at one time of a rack of bombs or rockets (as from an airplane) c: a series of shots by an artillery battery with each gun firing one round in turn after a prescribed interval d: the bombs or projectiles released in a salvo
2: something suggestive of a salvo: as a: a sudden burst (a salvo of cheers) b: a spirited attack (the first salvo of a political campaign)

Music video

This is an artfully done music video for an artists named Leeni. It confuses video games and theatre as it tells a story of a mole that wants to go on a trip to the surface. I thought it was a rich peice of work.



Enjoy!

Add me to Google Gadgets

Just add this url...

http://heyclare.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

I tried to do it with your blog but I thing you have to go into Settings/Site Feed/ and apply at least once.

Are you still looking for a job?

This one pays $100,000 for 6 months to lounge around on a tropical island and blog about it.

Link

Hella Flight 1549 Stories

This NYT article has loads of personal experiences. I don't know if you have read one of these type stories yet.

I like this one the best

Dick Richardson, 57, a frequent flier, had, upon takeoff, done his ritual count of the rows between his seat and the nearest exit (eight) before closing his eyes to try to go to sleep. On impact, he moved his BlackBerry from his belt clip to the inside pocket of his blue-gray tweed blazer.

Link