Eclecticism

Sometime between September 11th and September 15th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Sexual Assault Prevention Tips Guaranteed to Work!: "1. Don't put drugs in people's drinks in order to control their behavior. 2. When you see someone walking by themselves, leave them alone!" Etc.
• Violent Crime Decreasing in Washington State: "In Washington state, violent and property crime rates declined in 2008, according to the FBI's Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report. The FBI annually releases statistics on violent crimes like murder, rape and robbery and on property crimes such as burglary and vehicle theft. Not all agencies participate in the voluntary UCR program and therefore are not reflected in the data. Below you can search nationwide crime statistics, including 185 agencies in Washington. "
• If Lottery Tickets Told the Truth: Funny and sad, all at the same time — and an excellent antidote for those times when I think that must maybe I'll blow a couple bucks on a lottery ticket (something I've never, ever in my life done). Fun fact: I have better odds of being Tom Cruise than of winning the Lottery.
• The Muppets and Gnosticism: "The other thing about the Muppet movie that struck me as particularly gnostic was the way the characters recognize each other. In gnosticism some people have that 'spark' of god in them and these are your people — you have to find them, especially because as part of the fall into the mortal world they have forgotten where they come from and may not recognize themselves as chosen (think of how Morpheus finds Neo in the Matrix). Gonzo's 'There's not a word yet, for old friends who just met' is an absolutely gnostic maxim. You are old friends because the spark of god comes from the same ancient source, but you have not yet met in the fallen world. "
• American Vice: Mapping the 7 Deadly Sins: "We're gluttons for infographics, and a team at Kansas State just served up a feast: maps of sin created by plotting per-capita stats on things like theft (envy) and STDs (lust). Christian clergy, likely noting the Bible Belt's status as Wrath Central, question the 'science.' Valid point–or maybe it's just the pride talking."
• Lost World of Fanged Frogs and Giant Rats Discovered in Papua New Guinea: "A team of scientists from Britain, the United States and Papua New Guinea found more than 40 previously unidentified species when they climbed into the kilometre-deep crater of Mount Bosavi and explored a pristine jungle habitat teeming with life that has evolved in isolation since the volcano last erupted 200,000 years ago. In a remarkably rich haul from just five weeks of exploration, the biologists discovered 16 frogs which have never before been recorded by science, at least three new fish, a new bat and a giant rat, which may turn out to be the biggest in the world."

Sometime between September 4th and September 10th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Tech Support Cheat Sheet: "Dear various parents, grandparents, co-workers, and other 'not computer people.' We don't magically know how to do everything in every program. When we help you, we're usually just doing this. Please print this flowchart out and tape it near your screen. Congratulations; you're now the local computer expert!"
• Facebook | Desktop Notifications: "For Mac OS X, Adds Notifications to your desktop, alerting you when interesting activity happens on Facebook! Note: This software is experimental and has only been tested on Mac OS X 10.5"
• Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard: The Ars Technica Review: "Mac OS X 10.6, aka Snow Leopard has landed. This time around, Apple goes light on the glitz in favor of some heavy work under the hood. John Siracusa dives deep into Apple's new OS offering to see what's new, what's still the same, and whether it's worth upgrading." I'm a little behind the curve — vacation, plus I won't actually get to play with Snow Leopard until I upgrade my hardware — but this is Ars' usual insanely in-depth (26 page) look at the new OS. All sorts of really geeky goodness herein.
• That Obama Speech, Or, Expunging the Stupid Use of Words: "Seriously now, how much longer do any of us have to pretend that the sort of people bleating about Our Socialist President aren't, in fact, ignorant as chicken, or mad as hatters, or as madly ignorant as chicken hatters? I've already noted that we're well past the point where anyone still barfing up the 'Obama is a Socialist' meme deserves a 'tool' sign over their head; I propose we go further and call them morons. Because, at this point, if you're still calling the man a 'socialist,' that's what you are."
• 500 Internal Server Error: 500 Internal Server Error

Sometime between August 20th and August 23rd, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• 500 Internal Server Error: 500 Internal Server Error
• Get the Facts About the Stability and Security You Get From Health Insurance Reform | Health Insurance Reform Reality Check: My guess is most, if not all, people on my friends lists, whatever their personal beliefs, will be intelligent and curious enough not to have mindlessly fallen for the overblown rhetoric and hyperbole that the ultra-right-wing has been using in this argument. Whatever the case, though, this is a good collection of answers to the ridiculous assertions that are being made by those who'd rather spread FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) and distrust than actual information. Plus, I like that the White House is using the phrase "reality check". :)
• Review: Inglourious Basterds Is Damned Delightful: "We've seen filmmakers tackle every angle of this war, from the measured and noble perseverance of Defiance to the horror of concentration camp discovery displayed in Band of Brothers. But we've never seen the joy of killing that must have occurred on the winning side, the angry outlet of war, where courage and nobility have left, leaving only darkness, blood, and hurt on all sides. Tarantino tries here, tries to point out the obvious, that real people with flaws and families were involved, that we would have had to send a few killers over there to sort things out."
• When Did Women Start Shaving Their Pits?: I've wondered this myself from time to time over the years. "American women had no need to shave their underarms before about 1915 — after all, who ever saw them? Even the word 'underarm' was considered scandalous, what with it being so near certain other interesting body parts. Then came the sleeveless dress. An ad in the fashion mag Harper's Bazaar decreed that to wear it (and certainly to wear it while participating in 'Modern Dancing'), women would need to first see to 'the removal of objectionable hair.' They didn't need much convincing, and by the early '20s, hairy underarms were so last decade, at least in America."
• John Scalzi’s Guide to the Most Epic FAILs in Star Wars Design: "I'll come right out and say it: Star Wars has a badly-designed universe; so poorly-designed, in fact, that one can say that a significant goal of all those Star Wars novels is to rationalize and mitigate the bad design choices of the movies. Need examples? Here's ten."

Sometime between August 18th and August 19th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• Hands-on With the MiFi Personal Hotspot: "Until you experience a bubble of Wi-Fi that surrounds you wherever you go, you won't know how handy it can be. Sure, having an iPhone is useful, but being able to hop onto the net anywhere using any Wi-Fi-equipped device you like is pretty addictive. You can use it on trains, in cars, or even — as I did — on a bike. Along with my iPod I used Google Maps to navigate my way around the Spanish countryside."
• How to Handle Facebook Privacy Settings for Your Kids: "Facebook users do not always make full use of privacy controls, perhaps because they do not have a full understanding of what personal information may be widely exposed when privacy is not taken into account. Now is the time to instill the privacy habit in your kids. If they make a habit of setting privacy controls on social networks, that lesson will carry over as they move into the workforce and begin to use the internet and other technologies for work and an increasing number of sensitive uses."
• Lessn // ShaunInman.com: "Lessn is an extremely simple, personal url shortener written in PHP with MySQL and mod_rewrite. Download Lessn 1.0.2 and check out the included README.txt for installation instructions (I'm not sure about minimum requirements but I've been using it with PHP 5.2.6 and MySQL 5.0.41)."
• Meanwhile in Alaska: Anchorage’s Summer of Hate: "On Monday, August 17, our newly elected mayor–conservative Dan Sullivan (it's a non-partisan office, so D and R don't apply)–vetoed a gay rights ordinance that the Anchorage Assembly had voted 7-4 to approve on Tuesday, August 11. Although the veto [was] expected from Sullivan, it came as a blow to those committed to making Anchorage a progressive city like many of its West Coast counterparts." Sad. Seattle and Washington haven't been quite as progressive as I'd like — it'd be nice if we were on the list of states supporting gay marriage — but at least we're not as backwards as Alaska seems determined to be.
• Mark Will Read the Entire Twilight Series So You Don’t Have To: "If there's one thing that bothers me, it's unfounded arguments ON THE INTERNET. A lot of people here (myself included) have taken Twilight fans to task for their support of the series of novels written by Stephanie Meyer. At face value, there's a lot to discount about the books: they reinvent the vampire mythology we've come to accept as a society without any respect to history; they are aimed at a young adult audience and quite possibly might be fairly terrible; but most importantly, they've whipped a nation of pre-pubescent girls and middle-aged women into a frenzy that doesn't seem to be going away. And that's the real issue here: Twilight fans, most especially Twi-hards, have ruined the book for thousands of people who have never even read a page simply by being annoying. That's why I'm here: as a non-Twilight fan, I'm going to read the book for you."

Sometime between August 15th and August 18th, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!

• The Geekiest Spots in Seattle: "Let's face it: There are a lot of geeks living in Seattle. It's really not that surprising when you think about it. We have Microsoft in our backyard, as well as more video game developers, comics publishers and record labels than you can shake a slide rule at. In spite of what you might have heard about geeks, we don't spend all our time hiding in basements and shunning social interaction — but the kinds of places geeks like aren't always obvious. Here's a short list of some of the best hangouts in the city for geeks … or for those who just want to find out if it's true that geeks have more fun."
• Translation Party: "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch. = Like that just is not enough. = That's enough. Equilibrium found! "
• IN the LAND of the JUGGALOS: "From the earliest reviews of the Insane Clown Posse's singular brand of circus-themed swear-rap, the general contention has been that there is no way music could possibly sink below this point. This is the bottom. It's almost as if ICP intentionally cherry-picked the worst aspects of goth, punk, gangsta rap, rave, nu-metal, and real metal to create a sub-culture so universally repulsive as to forestall any attempts at outside involvement. Basically, they trumped all previous claims of FTW, and then wrote a nearly unlistenable song called 'Fuck the World' just to hammer the point home. "
• The Evolution of Blogging: "As Twitter has become increasingly ingrained in our everyday lives, its value as as source of information tidbits has become clear. Think of it like that plate of chips and salsa you get before the entree arrives: tasty — spicy, even — but not entirely satisfying. Meanwhile, blogging has become the main course — the source of context. And the evolution into that role has injected new life into the blogosphere."
• Burgerville Announces Latest Sustainability Innovation: Makes Its Drive-Thru Open to Bicyclists: "Opening up our drive-thrus to the large cycling community in our area is a natural for us and is very much in line with our overall values. While we are sorry that Ms. Gilbert was inconvenienced, we appreciate the passion she brought to the issue and her commitment to the environment and our food. We are excited about the positive impact we will be able to make through our new bike policy." This is cool. We need Burgerville to expand northward, they really seem to be a good company.