Break from Blogging
2 April 2007
I’m taking a break from blogging. Posts to resume at a date yet to be determined.
The Magic of Movie Editing
21 March 2007
A BBC documentary about the unappreciated art of film editing. Interviews with Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Steven Spielberg, Jodie Foster, and many more. Will it change the way you watch movies?
The Iditarod is Underway
4 March 2007
The 2007 Iditarod began Saturday (3/3)
Iditarod.com : A race over 1150 miles of the roughest, most beautiful terrain Mother Nature has to offer. She throws jagged mountain ranges, frozen river, dense forest, desolate tundra and miles of windswept coast at the mushers and their dog teams. Add to that temperatures far below zero, winds that can cause a complete loss of visibility, the hazards of overflow, long hours of darkness and treacherous climbs and side hills, and you have the Iditarod. From Anchorage, in south central Alaska, to Nome on the western Bering Sea coast, each team of 12 to 16 dogs and their musher cover over 1150 miles in 10 to 17 days.
The Iditarod Trail, now a National Historic Trail, had its beginnings as a mail and supply route from the coastal towns of Seward and Knik to the interior mining camps at Flat, Ophir, Ruby and beyond to the west coast communities of Unalakleet, Elim, Golovin, White Mountain and Nome. Mail and supplies went in. Gold came out. All via dog sled. Heroes were made, legends were born. In 1925, part of the Iditarod Trail became a life saving highway for epidemic-stricken Nome. Diphtheria threatened and serum had to be brought in; again by intrepid dog mushers and their faithful hard-driving dogs. The Iditarod is a commemoration of those yesterdays, a not-so-distant past that Alaskans honor and are proud of.
Every musher has a different tactic. Each one has a special menu for feeding and snacking the dogs. Each one has a different strategy — some run in the daylight, some run at night. Each one has a different training schedule and his own ideas on dog care, dog stamina and his own personal ability. The rules of the race lay out certain regulations which each musher must abide by. There are certain pieces of equipment each team must have — an arctic parka, a heavy sleeping bag, an ax, snowshoes, musher food, dog food and boots for each dog’s feet to protect against cutting ice and hard packed snow injuries. more…
OpenCongress.org
3 March 2007
“Bringing together official government information with news and blog coverage to give you the real story behind what’s happening in Congress.” View current bills, read about committees, issues…explore.
The Best of Technology Writing ‘06
3 March 2007
“When the Sous-Chef Is an Inkjet”
“The Rise of the Plagiosphere”
“Throwing Google at the Book”
“Sex, Fame, and PC Baangs”
“Cultural Sensitivity in Technology”
“Ups and Downs of Jetpacks”
Charlie Rose with John F. Burns of the NYT
25 February 2007
Charlie Rose speaks with John F. Burns of The New York Times, just returned from Iraq (24 January 2007). Mr. Burns discusses the current conditions in-country and possibilities for the future. A great listen if you’d like a first-hand account of the situation in Iraq amidst the daily barrage of headlines.
Digital Book Index
23 February 2007
From digitalbookindex.org
“Over the last decade, a quiet revolution has been going on in the development of a large library of “digital” or “electronic” books. While there are still large gaps, a very substantial body of “Western” thought is available in the form of downloadable or on-line books. Most major writers, from Plato to Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Proust, or John Le Carré, are accessible on the Internet. Subjects range from the highly scholarly to the contemporary and popular — especially as more commercial publishers discover the virtues of “on-line” distribution. This index is intended as a “Meta-index” for most major eBook sites, along with thousands of smaller specialized sites. In some subject categories, the resources you find here are more comprehensive than those of all but the largest of research libraries, due to the budget & space constraints of smaller institutions. Digital Book Index provides links to more than 130,000 title records from more than 1800 and non-commercial publishers, universities, and various private sites. About 90,000 of these books, texts, and documents are available free, while many others are available at very modest cost.”
You may look thin and be too fat
20 February 2007
Research highlighting the danger of fat around vital organs could change the way we tackle obesity. Professor Jimmy Bell, a molecular imaging expert, and a team of researchers have recently discovered that, in fact, an outwardly trim person can carry a higher proportion of dangerous hidden fat than an overweight one, if that fat is around vital organs. The team has used a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner at Hammersmith Hospital in London to map the fat distribution of 600 volunteers. Their results suggest that up to four in 10 people could be “tofi” – thin outside, fat inside.
Previous research has shown someone with a lot of internal fat around the liver, gut, heart and pancreas, or streaked through under-used muscles, has a higher risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension and some cancers than someone with high levels of external fat. “Traditional ways of measuring body fat, such as BMI, give people the wrong idea about how much fat they have, as it says nothing about internal storage. People become obsessed by dieting, but doing this without exercise means they may be putting down fat in the wrong places. We want to get away from that and focus on maximising the health benefits of physical activity without dramatic lifestyle changes.”
Simon Relph, a marketing art director from Sydenham, London, and Neil Ferguson, 23, a marketing designer from Bexley Village, Kent, provide a good example of why our current methods of evaluating weight-related health risks are so flawed. Simon, 41, has a BMI of 27.7, but admits to not doing much exercise. His MRI scan shows he is carrying 15 litres of internal fat. His colleague Neil, 23, has a BMI of 28.1. Yet he plays football three to four times a week and goes to the gym regularly. He admits to “love handles” around his waist, but has only four litres of internal fat.
The researchers believe our current view of the relationship between diet, physical activity and health is far too simplistic. This is where the so-called intervention studies being carried out by Prof Bell’s team come in. Groups of individuals will be put through 16-week programmes of exercise of different intensities and frequencies. Their progress will be accurately measured with MRI scans, and compared with control groups. The ultimate objective is to be able to provide far more accurate advice on how someone should exercise, based on their gender, ethnicity and genetic make-up.
JazzTube
20 February 2007
JazzTube powered by YouTube, hundreds of great jazz performances in one place.
Sampled by Daft Punk
18 February 2007
A collection of samples used by Daft Punk (primarily in their Discovery album).
Breakwater – “Release The Beast” used in “Robot Rock”
Edwin Birdsong -”Cola Bottle Baby” used in “Harder Better Faster Stronger”
The Imperials – “Can You Imagine” used in “Crescendolls”
Eddie Johns – “More Spell On You” used in “One More Time”
George Duke – “I Love You More” used in “Digital Love”
Oliver Cheatham – “Get Down Saturday Night” used in “Voyager”
Tata Vega – “Get It Up For Love” used in “Da Funk”
Jerry Goldsmith – “The Rec Room” used in “Around The World”
Karen Young – “Hot Shot” used in “Indo Silver Club”
Barry Manilow – “Who’s Been Sleeping In My Bed” used in “Superheroes”
Sister Sledge – “Il Macquillage Lady” used in “Aerodynamic”
ELO – “Evil Woman” used in “Face to Face”
Cerrone – “Supernature” used in “Verdis Quo”
