Society
- Cool clothes and styles of Maker Faire attendees20 May 2012, 5:47 am
Earlier today Gareth Branwyn had the idea that we should run an image gallery of the great clothes worn by people who come to Maker Faire Bay Area 2012 (taking place now). So Gar and I went out and snapped some photos of folks wearing interesting outfits. We'll post another gallery later, because there are [...]
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- When Thomas Edison forced the cats to box19 May 2012, 6:51 pm
These delightful boxing felines were equipped with miniature boxing gloves and set to brawling by none other than legendary douchebag Thomas Edison, as a means of promoting his newfangled moving picture device in 1894. Thomas Edison - 1894 Boxing cats (Thanks, Isaak!)
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- 4th grader's automatic cat feeder19 May 2012, 5:36 pm
Here's Ella Smith at Maker Faire with her Zevrino, an Arduino-powered automatic cat feeder.
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- Maker Faire live video19 May 2012, 5:30 pm
I'm here at Maker Faire in San Mateo. If you aren't one of the 100,000 people here to celebrate The Greatest Show (and tell) on Earth, you can still experience it through our Maker Faire Live site, with five different video feeds. Gareth Branwyn and I will be interviewing makers on the Fishbowl Camera feed. [...]
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- Swedish telcoms giant Teliasonera complicit in mass surveillance in the world's worst dictatorships19 May 2012, 12:59 pm
The Swedish news show Uppdrag Granskning has posted an hour-long investigative journalism piece establishing the link between the giant Swedish telcoms company Teliasonera and oppressive regimes around the world. Teliasonera sold and supported network equipment that was used to spy on dissidents, journalists, political reformers, union leaders, and the general public in Belarus, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, [...]
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- EFF/Open Rights Group Speakeasy night in London, June 1419 May 2012, 9:05 am
The Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Open Rights Group will co-host a speakeasy event -- a kind of pub night -- in east London on June 14. I'll be there, with several ORG employees, supporters and volunteers, and so will Cindy Cohn, the Electronic Frontier Foundation's legal director and veteran of many of the Internet's [...]
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- Hidden pint-glass QR code is only visible when filled with Guinness19 May 2012, 5:14 am
A clever bit of advertising gimmickry from Guinness: these pint glasses bear QR codes than can't be read when the glass is empty, nor when it is filled with amber-colored beers. But when filled with black, murky Guinness, the revealed QR code can finally be scanned: "it tweets about your pint, updates your facebook status, [...]
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- TSA frisks actual (but likely harmless) mass murdering serial bomber19 May 2012, 4:15 am
Henry Kissinger's wheelchair considered harmful: "Kissinger was taken to the search area, was required to stand, and was given the 'full Monty.'"
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- Miles Davis turned to Nancy Reagan and said...19 May 2012, 2:41 am
In 1987, he was invited to a White House dinner by Ronald Reagan. Few of the guests appeared to know who he was. During dinner, Nancy Reagan turned to him and asked what he'd done with his life to merit an invitation. Straight-faced, Davis replied: "Well, I've changed the course of music five or six [...]
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- Alien Pez19 May 2012, 1:39 am
Unsourced net.awesomeness: an Alien Pez dispenser. I'd buy that for (several) dollars. alien pez (via Wil Wheaton)
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- Shag's swinging Palm Springs art gallery (and Shag swag giveaway!)19 May 2012, 1:30 am
Last weekend I went to Shag the Store in Palm Springs, California. A variety of art pieces by Shag were for sale, along with paintings up for a charity auction by artists who painted live at Coachella. Handbags, art books, home décor, and other items were also being sold. It was fun to walk around [...]
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- Elmo and Ricky Gervais blooper reel19 May 2012, 1:00 am
Here's a blooper reel of Ricky Gervais and Sesame Street's Elmo cracking wise and crossing the line. Gervais + Elmo = Hilarity on 'Sesame Street' (via Metafilter)
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- CONVERSATION :
TESTOSTERONE ON MY MIND AND IN MY BRAIN30 April 2012, 12:00 am
This is a hormone that has fascinated me. It's a small molecule that seems to be doing remarkable things. The variation we see in this hormone comes from a number of different sources. One of those sources is genes; many different genes can influence how much testosterone each of us produces, and I just wanted to share with you my fascination with this hormone, because it's helping us take t......
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ESSENTIALISM17 May 2012, 12:00 am
The self is something that is central to a lot of psychological questions and, in fact, a lot of psychologists have difficulty describing their work without positing the notion of a self. It's such a common daily, profound, indivisible experience for most of us. Some people do manage to achieve states of divided self or anatta, no self, they're really skilled Buddhists. But for the majority ......
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A CULTURAL HISTORY OF PHYSICS9 April 2012, 12:00 am
INTRODUCTION
by Freeman Dyson
A Cultural History of Physics is a grand monument to the life of its author. Karoly Simonyi was teacher first, scholar second, and scientist third. His book likewise has three components. First a text, describing the history of science over the last four thousand years in a rich context of philosophy, art and literature. Second, a collection of illustratio......
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A UNIVERSE OF SELF-REPLICATING CODE26 March 2012, 12:00 am
What we're missing now, on another level, is not just biology, but cosmology. People treat the digital universe as some sort of metaphor, just a cute word for all these products. The universe of Apple, the universe of Google, the universe of Facebook, that these collectively constitute the digital universe, and we can only see it in human terms and what does this do for us?
We're missing......
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SCIENCE IS THE ONLY NEWS14 March 2012, 12:00 am
Introduction
Here's a selection of conversations published on Edge that are currently resonating in the media and cybersphere as the ideas appear in books, articles, reviews, op-eds, blogs, NPR, television (Charlie Rose, The Colbert Report, Bill Moyers), YouTube and other online media, talks and panels at Davos, TED, DLD, Zurich.Minds.
John Brockman
'For those seeking substa......
- CONVERSATION :
THIS WILL MAKE YOU SMARTER:
New Scientific Concepts to Improve Your Thinking17 February 2012, 12:00 am
'This Will Make You Smarter gives us better tools to think about the world and is eminently practical for life day to day. The people in this book lead some of the hottest fields.'
David Brooks, from the Foreword
'The world's smartest website ... Edge is a salon for the world's finest minds'
The Guardian
'Edge.org has become an epicenter of bleeding-edge insight across sc......
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'The Man Who Runs The World's Smartest Website' (in The Observer)8 January 2012, 12:00 am
Since the mid-1960s John Brockman has been at the cutting edge of ideas. He is a passionate advocate of both science and the arts, and his website Edge is a salon for the world's finest minds
To say that John Brockman is a literary agent is like saying that David Hockney is a photographer. For while it's true that Hockney has indeed made astonishingly creative use of......
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ADVENTURES IN BEHAVIORAL NEUROLOGY OR WHAT NEUROLOGY CAN TELL US ABOUT HUMAN NATURE21 February 2012, 12:00 am
So here is something staring you in the face, an extraordinary syndrome, utterly mysterious, where a person wants his normal limb removed. Why does this happen? There are all kinds of crazy theories about it including Freudian theories. One theory asserts, for example, that it's an attention seeking behavior. This chap wants attention so he asks you to remove his arm. It doesn't make any sen......
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'What do you think Marshall McLuhan would have said about ebooks? How do they change the message of books?'21 February 2012, 12:00 am
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- CONVERSATION :
Happy New Year from Edge!1 January 2012, 12:00 am
Untitled, 2012
Katinka Matson
[click to enlarge]...
- ANNUAL QUESTION : 2012 :
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DEEP, ELEGANT, OR BEAUTIFUL EXPLANATION?1 January 2012, 12:00 am
'The World's Smartest Website.'
John Naughton, The Observer
Scientists' greatest pleasure comes from theories that derive the solution to some deep puzzle from a small set of simple principles in a surprising way. These explanations are called 'beautiful' or 'elegant'. Historical examples are Kepler's explanation of complex planetary motions as simp......
- ANNUAL QUESTION : 2011 :
WHAT SCIENTIFIC CONCEPT WOULD IMPROVE EVERYBODY'S COGNITIVE TOOLKIT?1 January 2011, 12:00 am
James Flynn has defined 'shorthand abstractions' (or 'SHA's') as concepts drawn from science that have become part of the language and make people smarter by providing widely applicable templates ('market', 'placebo', 'random sample,' 'naturalistic fallacy,' are a few of his examples). His idea is that the abstraction is available as a single cognitive chunk which can be used as an element i......
- Vintage Vegas: Rare Photos of a Desert Boomtown25 April 2012, 8:36 pm
On the anniversary of Las Vegas' founding in 1905, LIFE.com presents photos of the town half a century later, in the mid-1950s — when the gambling mecca was in the midst of a building boom that would redefine it forever....
- Hell on Wheels: In Praise of Mutant Bikes10 April 2012, 8:58 pm
LIFE.com offers a selection of photos from six long decades ago that belie the famous old saying (which we just made up) that there's no such thing as a useless bicycle....
- Behind the Picture: The Liberation of Buchenwald29 March 2012, 7:08 am
On the anniversary of the liberation of Buchenwald by Patton's Third Army, LIFE.com looks at the story — and at other, harrowing photographs — behind one of the indispensable images from World War II....
- Before and After D-Day: Rare Color Photos29 March 2012, 6:50 am
It’s no mystery why images of unremitting violence spring to mind when one hears the deceptively simple term, “D-Day.” We’ve all seen — in photos, movies, old news reels — what happened on the beaches of Normandy (codenamed Omaha, Utah, Juno, [...]...
- Marilyn Monroe: Early Unpublished Photos29 March 2012, 4:10 am
Few Hollywood stars of the 1950s and 1960s were so compelling, so utterly unique, that they actually came to define the era in which they worked and played. Marilyn Monroe was one of those stars. From her earliest days as [...]...
- Mother’s Day Special: LIFE With Famous Moms26 March 2012, 5:53 pm
On Mother's Day weekend, LIFE.com offers a selection of portraits of famous moms with their kids, and famous kids with their moms, and (in a few instances) famous kids with their famous moms. ...
- Cartier-Bresson: ‘Red China’ in Color, 195823 March 2012, 12:34 am
In 1958, LIFE sent Henri Cartier-Bresson on a four-month, 7,000-mile tour through communist China during that country's convulsive "great leap forward." Here, the results, from the pages of the magazine....
- It’s About Time: Gjon Mili’s Stroboscopic Portraits19 March 2012, 5:56 pm
As we spring forward into Daylight Savings Time, LIFE offers a selection of technically brilliant photographs by the great Gjon Mili that playfully explore the relative nature of both time and space....
- Being 007: Behind the Scenes at James Bond Auditions18 March 2012, 11:19 am
In the early 1960s, movie producers adapting Ian Fleming’s novels about a suave British spy named James Bond plucked a relative unknown, Sean Connery, from obscurity and offered him the role of a lifetime. And when Connery left the franchise [...]...
- The Night Marilyn Sang to JFK: Rare Photos17 March 2012, 5:54 pm
On the 50th anniversary of the night Marilyn sang "Happy Birthday" to JFK, LIFE.com presents Bill Ray's iconic portrait of the actress, along with other photos from the 1962 gala that were never published in LIFE magazine....
- The Future of Internet Gamification18 May 2012, 5:00 am
Interactive games that reward participants with points, badges and discounts are on the rise. Experts believe they will spread widely to key areas, such as education and health by 2020. Others worry about a darker side....
- Daily Number: 150,000 - The Kevin Bacon Effect18 May 2012, 5:00 am
At two degrees of separation (friends of friends), Facebook users surveyed on average can reach 150,000 other Facebook users....
- A Global “No” To a Nuclear-Armed Iran18 May 2012, 5:00 am
A 21-nation Pew Global Attitudes survey finds widespread opposition to Iran obtaining nuclear weapons. In most countries -- with China and Russia notable exceptions -- there is majority support among opponents of a nuclear-armed Iran for international economic sanctions to try to stop Tehran’s weapons program....
- Daily Number: 72% - Most Americans Follow Local News Closely17 May 2012, 5:00 am
Nearly three quarters (72%) of adults say they closely follow local news and information, and local newspapers are by far the source they rely on for much of the local information they need....
- College Graduation: Weighing the Cost ... and the Payoff17 May 2012, 5:00 am
The issue of costs and rising student debt have have touched off a national debate about the cost and value of a college education. Surveys by the Pew Research Center present this portrait of the views of the general public and college graduates on these issues....
- Why Minority Births Now Outnumber White Births17 May 2012, 5:00 am
The nation’s racial and ethnic minority groups -- especially Hispanics -- are growing more rapidly than the non-Hispanic white population, fueled by both immigration and births....
- Public Yawns at European Economic Woes17 May 2012, 5:00 am
The European debt crisis has attracted minimal interest or concern among the U.S. public, despite warnings from economists that Europe’s problems may threaten this country’s fragile recovery....
- Facebook: A Profile of its 'Friends'16 May 2012, 5:00 am
For years, the Pew Internet & American Life Project has been polling people who use social media, asking how they use it and what they get out of it. The results paint an interesting picture of what kind of people use sites such as Facebook, who they are connected to and how they manage their privacy....
- Daily Number: 79% - Egyptians Have Sharply Negative Attitudes Towards the U.S.16 May 2012, 5:00 am
Roughly eight-in-ten Egyptians (79%) express unfavorable attitudes toward the U.S., with just 19% saying favorable....
- Daily Number: 54% - Majority of Americans Say Churches and Politics Don’t Mix15 May 2012, 5:00 am
More than half (54%) of adults say the church should stay out of political matters....
