How do I feel about this car?
courtroom illustration out of context
iA Writer
Found this on Signal vs. Noise. I’m intrigued. Does anyone here use iA Writer?
Mary Robison and Lish
I dig this blog look at Mary Robison’s first book as edited by Gordon Lish.
“Now do you believe me?”
Denise lost her vision when she was three. Her last visual memory was of lights on a Christmas tree. No idea why, but her eyes were surgically removed and replaced with glass eyes.
Read more
For my carnivorous friends in Dallas
It’s been a while since I posted a review by my favorite food critic, Alice Laussade. So here you go.
Lytro, a light field camera
Joel alerted me to Lytro yesterday. I had never heard of them, but they are a technology company that is developing a camera unlike any other.
The breakthrough is a different type of sensor that captures what are known as light fields — basically, all the light that is moving in all directions in the view of the camera. That offers several advantages over traditional photography, the most revolutionary of which is that photos no longer need to be focused before they are taken.
OFFER: Garden Creeper
Posted to Dubuque Freecycle group Wed Jun 22, 2011 8:55 am (PDT)
You sit on this and move along pulling with your feet while you weed. It has a compartment for tools or weeds. Prefer quick pickup.
quick note
I’ll be in LA tomorrow through Tuesday.
the shot that nearly killed me
I’d been in Afghanistan for a month when I stepped on the landmine. I was the third man in line, and as I put my foot down, I heard a metallic click and I was thrown in the air. I knew exactly what had happened. As the soldiers dragged me away from the kill zone, I took these pictures. When people around me have been hurt or killed, I’ve recorded it. I had to keep working. The soldiers were yelling for the medics. I knew my legs had gone, so I called my wife on the satellite phone and told her not to worry. The pain came later, back in intensive care, when infections set in and they nearly lost me a couple of times.
This is a quote from photographer João Silva in a longer article about photojournalists who document war. Many of the images and recollections are difficult, so be warned. I’m realizing Silva is one of the photographers in a transcript from NPR I used in Mockingbird.
(via the browser)
Tilapia and environmental issues
Dr. McCrary has spent the past decade studying how a small, short-lived tilapia farm degraded Lake Apoyo in Nicaragua. “One small cage screwed up the entire lake — the entire lake!” …
Waste from the cages polluted the pristine ecosystem, and some tilapia escaped.
I thought this was interesting, and also felt sorry for some of the lesser-used categories. Working on “tits” now. Just kidding.
Also, doesn’t fish farming like this (engineered to have small heads and tails, and large “loins”) sound remarkably close to lab-grown synthetic meats? Getting people to accept synthetic meats might be easier than I thought.
“Hope & despair are born of imagination. I am free of both”
And other humblebrags.
(via @tcarmody)
8-bit tribute out of context
finally a fix to the flight attendant button
The new interior design for Boeing’s 737 passenger jet, the best-selling plane in aviation history, includes an innovation that is as radical as it is obvious: a flight attendant button that is situated well away from the reading light button and actually looks different from it.
This reminds me of the 30 Rock episode with the ham button on Jack’s pocket microwave.
Weeping and gnashing of teeth
There was weeping and gnashing of teeth tonight.
I said, “Well, I guess this is it.”
She never got good at losing stuff. Not after the Lord took her boy without so much as an explanation.
She sort of flew at me and hung off my neck and I held her up until I reckoned she was done doing that.
“Don’t cry, you,” I whispered. “We have to go now – that’s all.”
“Promise me you’ll come back,” she said, her eyes flickering like ice cubes on a boardwalk.
“I promise,” I told her, but she knowed I was already gone.
I didn’t turn to look but heard her back there for a bit.
Wish I’d played that different now.
from the moderated comments
TEXHOMA OKLA.,LIVED THERE FROM 1963 TO 1970, FARMED MUSTARD AND GRAIN THERE ON OUR FARMS, HAD JUST VERY FEW FRIENDS, PEOPLE THERE DID NOT LIKE FOLKS THERE THEY DID NOT KNOW. FRIENDS WERE [Redacted], [Redacted],
facebook status updates, hostage edition
I’m currently in a standoff … kinda ugly, but ready for whatever.
I love u guyz and if I don’t make it out of here alive that I’m in a better place and u were all great friends.
Got a cute `Hostage’ huh
Well i was lettin this girl go but these dumb bastards made an attempt to come in after i told them not to, so i popped off a couple more shots and now were startin all over again it seems…
Destruction Party read-through
Cast read-through for Destruction Party, 6/18/11.
(photo credit: Carsten Tice)
‘Cluster Flocking’ Is No Energy Saver
When birds take to the air in a large group, they typically either fly in a V-formation or in a swarmlike cluster. Both have their benefits: the V-shape is aerodynamically efficient, saving geese and other birds energy during flight, while cluster flocking can help birds like pigeons guard against predators. But the cluster has one big disadvantage, according to a study published online today in Nature. When researchers followed 18 pigeons with GPS, they found that the birds gained neither an aerodynamic advantage nor added energy efficiency when flying in a cluster. In fact, the team believes that it takes pigeons more energy to fly in a flock than to fly solo. So why do they do it? In addition to predator protection, the researchers speculate that cluster flocking may help the birds navigate; a follow-the-crowd mentality.
(Thanks to @StanCarey.)
a clip from the documentary
What goes around
About 8 months ago, a 7-11 that I pass each day on my way to work got bulldozed. It was on a prime corner, and I wondered at the decision, since the store seemed always to be packed. A For Sale sign went up, “Will Build to Suit.”
About a month ago, construction began on a new building. Today it finally became recognizable.
Another 7-11.
WE ARE THE PEOPLE, AND WE ARE OUTSTANDING.
6. Intangibles (15 points): This is everything else about the candidate — a swirling jambalaya of all that makes a musician essential: smarts, chemistry, sexuality, drug use, infidelity, insanity, a bizarre origin story, a propensity for crime, memorable dance moves, inappropriate joking about fatal diseases, their personal taste in guitar strings, a strident unwillingness to sell out, a charming willingness to sell-out immediately, high-profile ownership of dragon pants, involvement with the H.O.R.D.E festival, involvement with Farm Aid, involvement with Hear ‘n Aid, boating accidents, cult membership, nonmembership in the Cult, emaciation, obesity, a willingness to wear neckties for promotional photographs, a willingness to compose the theme song to That Thing You Do!, a willingness to collaborate with Bob Ezrin, a checkered history of collaborating with Lenny Kravitz, anachronistic facial hair, and/or the inability to be the person in the band who is not Joe Walsh.
Chuck Klosterman introduces the Rock VORM, the Gross Rock VORM, the Adjusted Rock VORM, and the “Real” Rock VORM stat.
surfing madonna
Sadly, local officials are taking down the uncommisioned piece from a San Diego railroad bridge.
headline of the day
You can’t keep breast implants for life, FDA says
