Eclecticism

Sometime between September 9th and September 14th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Consequences of U.S. and Dutch Approaches to Teen Sex: "American parents approach their children's sexual initiation with fear and loathing; while Dutch parents treat sexuality like any other realm of life that a child must learn to manage. Accordingly, most American teenagers hide their virginity loss from their parents, furtively popping the cherry in risky situations, often without protection against pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections (STIs). In contrast, most Dutch teenagers lose their virginity in their own bedrooms with their parents approval… and condoms. This different approach to teen sexuality helps explain the dramatic differences between the U.S. and the Netherlands in rates of contraceptive use, teen pregnancy, abortion, and STI transmission."
• Facebook Co-Founder Mark Zuckerberg Opens Up: "Zuckerberg, or at least Hollywood's unauthorized version of him, will soon be starring in a film titled 'The Social Network,' directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin. The movie, which opens the New York Film Festival and will be released on October 1st, will be the introduction that much of the world gets to Zuckerberg. Facebook profiles are always something of a performance: you choose the details you want to share and you choose whom you want to share with. Now Zuckerberg, who met with me for several in-person interviews this summer, is confronting something of the opposite: a public exposition of details that he didn't choose. He does not plan to see the film."
• Tax the Filthy Rich!: "Washington State has the most regressive taxes of any state in the country. In Washington, poor people pay 17.3 percent of their income in taxes, while the filthy rich pay only 2.6 percent of their income in taxes. This is the result of our state's heavy reliance on the sales tax, which accounts for over 50 percent of all state revenue. Imagine two families, one rich and one poor, going to the same store and buying the same basket of goods and subjected to the same sales tax. For the poor family, it's a much heavier burden than for the rich family. The sensible way to even out the tax burden is to tax income, like most other states. But Washington doesn't have an income tax. Never has. Hence our status as a national embarrassment–more regressive on taxes than even Texas or Georgia."
• 5 Worries Parents Should Drop, and 5 They Shouldn’t: "Based on surveys Barnes collected, the top five worries of parents are, in order: Kidnapping, School snipers, Terrorists, Dangerous strangers, and Drugs. But how do children really get hurt or killed? Car accidents, Homicide (usually committed by a person who knows the child, not a stranger), Abuse, Suicide, and Drowning."

Sometime between September 1st and September 8th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Geena Davis Says Girl Characters Mostly Stereotypes: "Oscar winner Geena Davis has played a feminist icon, a baseball hero, and the first female president of the United States. But on Tuesday night she came to Emeryville for a new role: evangelist for change in Hollywood.<br />
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  Speaking to a packed auditorium at Pixar Animation Studios, Davis spoke about her work to create a cultural shift in American media — ending what appears to be insidious gender bias in movies and television aimed at kids, which she believes is sending the damaging message that girls are less valued in society."
• New Record for Costumed Star Trek Fans Set at Dragon*Con: "On Saturday night at Dragon*Con in Atlanta, GA Star Trek fans gathered to attempt to break the record for costumed Trekkies set just a month ago at the Official Star Trek convention in Las Vegas. And based on the count, it looks like they did it. "
• The Authorized Guide and Companion to Dune: "Snippets of poetry from the Imperium; a sample folk tale from the Oral History; brief biographies of over a dozen Duncan Idahos; two differing approaches to Paul Muad'Dib himself and to his son Leto II; Fremen recipes; Fremen history; secrets of the Bene Gesserit; the songs of Gurney Halleck — these are just some of the treasures found when an earthmover fell into the God Emperor's no-room at Dar-es-Balat. Out of print for more than two decades, disavowed by Frank Herbert's estate, and highly sought-after by fans, the legendary Dune Encyclopedia is now available online as a fully illustrated and searchable PDF."

Sometime between August 30th and September 1st, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• A Syllabus and Book List for Novice Students of Science Fiction Literature: "There are a few things to keep in mind about this syllabus for SF 101: Introduction to Literature. It is not comprehensive. It is intended to introduce the novice student of SF literature to the major themes in the genre, as well as books and authors who are representative of different eras in SF lit (including the present day). So you'll find a mix of old and new here, as well as fan favorites tucked in among more literary authors. Back in the mists of time, I used to teach literature and American Studies at UC Berkeley, so I have some experience putting together course materials for university classes very much like one. (In fact, there are a few books on here that I used to teach.) What educators aim to do in overview courses is expose students to the broadest possible set of examples of a genre, not just the 'canon.' It is in this spirit that I chose the books on this list."
• Comparison – Apple TV vs. Roku vs. Boxee Box: "Despite its startup status, Roku still gets high marks for a product line that's on par with — if not better — than what Apple announced today. Roku's high-end HD-XR, priced at $99, has HDMI and 802.11N wireless connectivity, which is in-line with Apple TV is offering. It also has Netflix Watch Instantly and a video rental service in Amazon Video on Demand that rivals Apple's iTunes store. Roku has also promised a 1080p upgrade to its HD-XR product for personal streaming, going one better than the 720p streaming Apple TV is capable of."
• Get More Out of Your Roku Digital Video Player: Great collection of extra 'private' channels for Roku, including Twitter and YouTube channels.
• Parched English Fields Reveal Ancient Sites: "Known as crop marks, the faint outlines of unseen buried structures emerged because of the length of the dry spell, leading the national conservator to label 2010 a vintage year for archaeology. The outlines show up when crops grow at different rates over buried structures. Shallower soils tend to produce a stunted crop and are more prone to parching, bringing to light the new features. 'It's hard to remember a better year,' said Dave MacLeod, a senior investigator with English Heritage."

Sometime between August 28th and August 29th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• The Top 20 Essential Science Fiction TV Shows: "Science fiction has ruled television for over 50 years, but some shows have brightened our screens and supercharged our brains more than others. Here are the 20 science fiction shows that everybody interested in the genre should see." I don't do quite as well with this list as I do with the earlier-linked list of films, but I've still seen at least some, if not all, of almost 3/4 (13 out of 20) of the shows on this list.
• 25 Classic Science Fiction Movies That Everybody Must Watch: "Science fiction has rocked cinemas for a century, and the genre has produced many undisputed classics during that time. But which movies are essential viewing for anyone interested in the genre? We broke down the 25 must-watch science fiction films." As of right now, Primer and Moon are the only two films on this list that I haven't seen yet.
• How I’D Hack Your Weak Passwords: "Believe me, I understand the need to choose passwords that are memorable. But if you're going to do that how about using something that no one is ever going to guess AND doesn't contain any common word or phrase in it."

Sometime between August 12th and August 23rd, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Ten Things I Know About the Mosque – Roger Ebert’s Journal: "The First Amendment comes down to this: 'I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.' It does not come down to: 'The First Amendment gives me the right to repeat the N-word 11 times on the radio to an inoffensive black woman, and when you attack me for saying it, you are in violation of my First Amendment rights.'"
• Beloit College Mindset List: Class of 2014: "The class of 2014 has never found Korean-made cars unusual on the Interstate and five hundred cable channels, of which they will watch a handful, have always been the norm. Since 'digital' has always been in the cultural DNA, they've never written in cursive and with cell phones to tell them the time, there is no need for a wrist watch. Dirty Harry (who's that?) is to them a great Hollywood director. The America they have inherited is one of soaring American trade and budget deficits; Russia has presumably never aimed nukes at the United States and China has always posed an economic threat. "
• Russia in Color, a Century Ago: "With images from southern and central Russia in the news lately due to extensive wildfires, I thought it would be interesting to look back in time with this extraordinary collection of color photographs taken between 1909 and 1912. In those years, photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) undertook a photographic survey of the Russian Empire with the support of Tsar Nicholas II. He used a specialized camera to capture three black and white images in fairly quick succession, using red, green and blue filters, allowing them to later be recombined and projected with filtered lanterns to show near true color images. The high quality of the images, combined with the bright colors, make it difficult for viewers to believe that they are looking 100 years back in time – when these photographs were taken, neither the Russian Revolution nor World War I had yet begun."
• Did ‘Star Wars’ Become a Toy Story? Producer Gary Kurtz Looks Back: "After the release of 'Empire'…the partners could no longer find a middle ground. 'We had an outline and George changed everything in it,' Kurtz said. 'Instead of bittersweet and poignant he wanted a euphoric ending with everybody happy. The original idea was that they would recover [the kidnapped] Han Solo in the early part of the story and that he would then die in the middle part of the film in a raid on an Imperial base. George then decided he didn't want any of the principals killed. By that time there were really big toy sales and that was a reason.' The discussed ending of the film that Kurtz favored presented the rebel forces in tatters, Leia grappling with her new duties as queen and Luke walking off alone 'like Clint Eastwood in the spaghetti westerns,' as Kurtz put it. Kurtz said that ending would have been a more emotionally nuanced finale to an epic adventure than the forest celebration of the Ewoks that essentially ended the trilogy with a teddy bear luau."
• Be Careful With Your Safari Extensions, and Turn Off Auto-Updating: "I'm a big fan of Safari Extensions. I've written several of my own, some of which I share with the Internet public. But because I've built those extensions, I've realized how easily a malicious developer could harvest all sorts of information about you, using a method that could sneak in and evade immediate detection."

Sometime between August 3rd and August 11th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Massive Censorship of Digg Uncovered: "A group of influential conservative members of the behemoth social media site Digg.com have just been caught red-handed in a widespread campaign of censorship, having multiple accounts, upvote padding, and deliberately trying to ban progressives. An undercover investigation has exposed this effort, which has been in action for more than one year."
• New Ball Prototype: "So basically how HTC/Android/Apple make smart phones, we make smart toys. Our first smart toy is a robotic ball that you can move by tilting your phone in the direction you want the ball to roll. We are then leveraging the connectivity and computing power of the phone to create a fully interactive experience for the user. Our first app for the ball is Sumo. I throw my ball on a table, you throws yours on the table and then we can try and sumo each others ball off the table."
• Racer: "Bad english and even worse staring at the camera, but here are some impressions from the demo setup of Racer 0.2…" This is awesome: a physical creation of an arcade racing game (apparently modeled after the 'Wipeout' series, which I loved). The player drives from an arcade racing console, which controls an RC car with a wireless camera driving on a cardboard track; the camera feeds back to the arcade console. Sweet!
• How Star Trek Artists Imagined the iPad… 23 Years Ago: "To understand the thinking that lead to the design of the Star Trek PADD, we spoke to some of the people involved in production of ST:TNG (as well as other Star Trek TV series and films), including Michael Okuda, Denise Okuda, and Doug Drexler. All three were involved in various aspects of production art for Star Trek properties, including graphic design, set design, prop design, visual effects, art direction, and more. We also discussed their impressions of the iPad and how eerily similar it is to their vision of 24th century technology, how science fiction often influences technology, and what they believe is the future of human-machine interaction."
• Clever overhead garage storage hack: Something to keep in mind when we finally get out of apartmentland and into our own house: "Great storage idea from user tluwelyn of survivalist community Alpha Disaster Contingencies. Dimensional lumber is bolted together to make Ts and Ls that, in turn, are bolted to the ceiling joists. Heavy-duty storage totes are then slid in and suspended by their molded-in rims. Looks like there's still plenty of room to park cars underneath."
• F.B.I. Challenges Wikipedia Over Use of Its Seal: "Wikipedia sent back a politely feisty response, stating that the bureau's lawyers had misquoted the law. 'While we appreciate your desire to revise the statute to reflect your expansive vision of it, the fact is that we must work with the actual language of the statute, not the aspirational version' that the F.B.I. had provided."