Morning Coffee Monthly Archive

Fireworks

Here Suzi, another nice fractal site.

Saturnalia

MoS LotR reminder

for the LotR exhibit at the Museum of Science go on sale for the general public. (They went on sale May 1 for members, so if any of you are members, then get them before Tuesday!)

Organic veggies are better

ACS journal: Organic foods higher in cancer-fighting compounds

According to a Mar. 3, 2003 American Chemical Society press release posted to EurekAlert! a news site by the American Association for the Advancement of Science:

Fruits and veggies grown organically show significantly higher levels of cancer-fighting antioxidants than conventionally grown foods, according to a new study of corn, strawberries and marionberries. The research suggests that pesticides and herbicides actually thwart the production of phenolics — chemicals that act as a plant's natural defense and also happen to be good for our health. Fertilizers, however, seem to boost the levels of anti-cancer compounds.

Super-sized Ritalin, please

Food additives and hyperactivity -- widely reported around world, but not in U.S.

According to a June, 2004 Archives of Disease in Childhood article:

There is a general adverse effect of artificial food colouring and benzoate preservatives on the behaviour of 3 year old children which is detectable by parents but not by a simple clinic assessment.

Her 'Beautiful' Mind

DIANE SAWYER, ABC NEWS: (OC) You said that, that Mrs. Bush at one point had said to the two of you, don't watch too much TV. You may be watching too much TV. FORMER FIRST LADY BARBARA BUSH, UNITED STATES: No question. DIANE SAWYER, ABC NEWS: (OC) You do watch?

From Good Morning AmericaYeah, and you said Ferrarro was a "rhymes with witch"? You bitch. i cannot believe they chose to villainise Hillary but not you, apparently because you talked like a third-grade girl. Must be that liberal media conspiracy again.

Play that funky music,

Thanks, Ace Macdonald.

More Lemony Snicket

∼ The Official

Movie Site ∼

We shall see. i do wish Violet did not look like a 15-y.o. who has had collagen injections. Caveat: javascript issues abound - for me at least.

A song for the FCC

http://www.pythonline.com/plugs/idle/FCCSong.mp3

Thank you, Mike Barklage.

Camino 0.8b

Finally available for download!

So far so good. It looks strikingly different, mostly the toolbar icons and the button elements. It now has the google search field in the toolbar.

There are some new ways of dealing with bookmarks i have not yet messed with. It is fast; it seems to load images faster, and it is rendering some elements on this page more consistently with my intent than before. The download manager is a bit nicer. It has finally forgotten that it used to be named "Chimera" in the library prefs file.

i am still unhapy that the "clear cache" and "clear history" functions are buried deep in the preferences. Give me a toolbar button, or at least a menu item, dammit!

i have to go back and try the sites that have been crashing v0.7 and see how it handles those. Still, i like it better then Safari.

Lunar Eclipse

Vampires in the...sun?

i cannot say it better than Cruel Site of the Day did: "A market I didn't know existed: Affluent live-action role-playing goths who like sunny Jamaican beaches and outdoor activities such as scuba diving and shuffleboard."

Girls Go Tech

In general GSA has a good array of science education activities and discussion of career possibilities in general. Thank god my mom forced me to join.

Snopes Chemistry Exam

Describe what you would observe as this reaction took place. Link your observations to the species involved.

Answer: Add contents of packet and return to boil whilst stirring continuously. Simmer on a medium heat for 10 minutes. Sauce will thicken on standing. Serves 4.

http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/chemistry.asp

The Corporation

"THE CORPORATION is resonating with audiences all over the world. The feature documentary analyzes the very nature of the corporate institution, its impacts on our planet, and what people are doing in response.

Based on Bakan's book "The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power", the film has been generating popular support from street level to the boardrooms of the Corporate Social Responsibilty movement."

More in link

Pope: Bush IS the Anti-Christ!

Pope fears Bush is antichrist, journalist contends

Church - journalist Wayne Madsden New Catholic Times, May 18, 2003 WASHINGTON DC -- According to freelance journalist Wayne Madsden, "George W Bush's blood lust, his repeated commitment to Christian beliefs and his constant references to 'evil doers,' in the eyes of many devout Catholic leaders, bear all the hallmarks of the one warned about in the Book of Revelations--the anti-Christ."

Madsen, a Washington-based writer and columnist, who often writes for Counterpunch, says that people close to the pope claim that amid these concerns, the pontiff wishes he was younger and in better health to confront the possibility that Bush may represent the person prophesized in Revelations. John Paul II has always believed the world was on the precipice of the final confrontation between Good and Evil as foretold in the New Testament.

More in link

Go Jesse McCann

Currently #4 on the NYT Children's Book Bestseller List. Run, Jesse, run! Hit #1 and i will make you a batch of delicious Cranappletinis. :) EDIT 5/29: Now it is #3! Eee!

Eat Cheese, Get Murdered

i cannot link to them, so you will have to go look. Be sure to hit reload a few times.

James Burke's K-Web Project

i loved the Connections series, and once spent an enjoyable evening hearing James Burke speak in the very late '80s in Denver. This looks like a way to represent these sorts of connections graphically. Thanks, Jacob Lord. Quoted from the site:

Here’s how it works

The Knowledge Web presents knowledge in a highly interconnected, holistic way that makes it possible to follow an almost infinite number of paths of exploration among people, places, things, and events.

Each such person, place, thing, or event is represented by a node in a web of connections. Selecting a node brings up in-depth information, a "vital statistics" summary, and links to multimedia or other web sites.

From each node, users can travel to other nodes that are connected via historical relationships. The Knowledge Web also allows users to "zoom out" and see the constellation of other nodes that relate to any given starting point. Users are never lost because they are oriented in space by maps, in time by a timeline, and in their own journey by an archived list of all the nodes they’ve visited. They can even save maps of their journeys and e-mail them to other explorers. The map and timeline can also be used as input with other filtering devices, so users can find, for instance, French 17th-century chemists who were self-educated.

Kickin' it old school, yo

Save the carb!

Tomorrow is THURSDAY, MAY 20TH, NATIONAL CARB AWARENESS DAY.

Today i saw Low-carb bread at Trader Joe's. WHAT THE HELL IS IN IT, THEN? IT'S BREAD!!!

i hereby vow to punch the next person that seriously uses the word "carb" in conversation, right in the nose. For their own good, of course.

Jim Ottaviani Strikes Again

Jim Ottaviani and G.T. Labs have released another biography of a scientist, this time Niels Bohr, called Suspended in Language. i got to meet Jim at SDCC in '98; he was a very nice guy. The whole series has been great so far, so i am looking forward to reading this.

Tintin et Moi

It is evidently not to be confused with Moi, Tintin, which is a 1976 documentary about the life of Hergé based on a 1971 interview. Apparently the book resulting from that interview was heavily censored by Hergé. i cannot quite figure out whether both documentaries come from the same source footage, and the sites that mention both are not in English. Are there any Danes around here?

Farewell, Mr. Randall

Still NEAT

Science is abused yet again

http://www.ageyourwine.com/ & http://www.thewineclip.com/

At least the first site keeps their mouth shut. The explanation on that second site is painful bullshit. Besides they misuse "effects", i hate that.

When a conductive fluid (in this case wine) passes through a magnetic field, an electrical charge is created. That charge effects the molecules that are suspended in the fluid. These loosely bonded and larger molecules are broken down into smaller molecules.

With The Wine Clip, a wine’s impurities and tannins are broken down during the pouring process. There is absolutely no chemical change and nothing is introduced or taken away from the wine. It’s the physical change which accounts for the enhanced flavor and bouquet. The taste of many small molecules is smoother than the taste of fewer large molecules.

Cahill Porter Cheddar

i finally managed to be at Cardullo's when they had this in stock. It lived up to everything i had heard about it. And it is so beautiful! Look here for a close-up view of this gorgeous cheese.

Now i am interested in trying from Durrus and Cashel Blue Irish cheeses for comparison. Artisanal Cheese sells them in a sampler pack.

After that, perhaps the Red Wine version of the Cahill, and this Windsor Red. Gorgeous.

Bill Moyers, we need you NOW

Bill Moyers to Leave PBS

NEW YORK - Bill Moyers, whose weekly magazine "Now" on PBS has capped a 30-year career in TV journalism, is leaving the broadcast after the November elections.

More in link

Periodicity

The Most Beautiful Periodic Table Displays in the World

If you are Bill Gates, you can have this installed in your home for a mere $40 to $80 K. It would be money well spent. i plan to have it as one wall of the billiard room. Or perhaps the library, you could read to the neon light.

(From a Design Observer post collecting several such links, many quite nice. There is also a very funny comment by someone named "Su" who is completely indignant that someone would be so disrespectful to the "Periodical" Table. OK, that clinches it, the installation is definitely going in the library. HA HA HA It was Dietsch who pointed this out to me ages ago, IIRC. Thanks, Mike!)

NEW Incredibles Trailer

Goodbye, Lenin

Blurb from the Coolidge: East Germany, 1989--the world is watching as the borders open, the Berlin wall comes toppling down, and a post-communist East Berlin is invaded by signs of the western world. It was a bad time to fall into a coma, which is precisely what happened to Alex's proudly Socialist mother. When she awakens six months later her heart is so weak that any shock may kill her. So it's up to Alex to shield his mother from the truth...

Lisa Bastoni

Lisa Bastoni is a great local busker who i met when i used to ride the red line. She is just releasing a new album, "Your First Sweetheart ", performing at The Burren this Sunday with Josh Kantor, and just got a nice write-up in the Boston Globe. She has a nice folk sound and a great storytelling ability. Check out her music. i have her Christmas album; it is the only holiday music i have ever liked in my entire life.

Cheaters

Pulp Cards

These guys have great e-cards. Thanks, J.O.S.H.

i ♥ Jillifer

Oooozinnnng!

Poisonnnnnnnnn! Even though it is freezing (my hands and feet are numb!) i think it is officially summer now, for i have not slept in two days. i guess i am an anti-bear, since i inverse-hibernate. Bleedinnnnnnnng!

Emptyyyyyyyyy!i need something to address my existential angst. 'Crazy Bob' Harris told me there wasn't supposed to be any angst. Miseryyyyyyyyy!

Decayyyyyyyyy! A guy called 'Crazy Bob' ought to know, right? That means it must be time to revisit Strindberg+Helium. Strindberrrrrg! and Heliuuuuuuum!

Hellllllllllllll!A few visits to see S+H are also going to be necessary because i will be needing an antidote to this disturbing thing if i am ever to sleep again. For you!

New Jarmusch

Well, OK, anyway, check out the trailer.

(The official movie site is sort of nice, but it does not seem to work in Safari for me. You really only miss the brief synopsis anyway, no loss.)

Foxy Boxing

So why does it look like a big X? A likely explanation is that the central star - actually a close pair of stars - is surrounded by a thick dust torus which pinches the otherwise spherical outflow into tip-touching cone shapes.

Curse you, Merry!

i never needed to know these existed. But you are right, $58 is obscene. Thank goodness they don't have my size either.

This Paul Frank person is clearly the devil; everything is dangerously cute.

To do:

...The Collection also includes work by influential "alternative" comic artists of the 1960s and 1970s such as R. Crumb and Art Spiegelman, author of Maus, and the comics and comic magazines influenced by the popularity of the French Métal Hurlant adult science fiction comics, which trace their inspiration to the French student revolts of the 1960s. It also includes many English translations of the Japanese "manga" and the "anime" comics, with their roots in Japanese animated films. There are, in addition, collections of British satirical graphic magazines, fan and collectors' journals, advertising ephemera, periodicals on animated film and film-to-comic "crossovers," adult erotica, role-playing fantasy game materials, Walt Disney characters, and much more...

STAPLERFAHRERKLAUS

STAPLERFAHRERKLAUS (Forklift Driver Klaus) Priceless. Accurately described as "the German Dead Alive". The Official Site has its charms, including the character names on the credits. Thanks to Dan Evans and Sk8.

Comet NEAT

Comets and aurorae, they never fail.

Priorities

Senate Committee Holds Hearings on Smoking in Movies

In advance of a Senate hearing on the influence of motion pictures on smoking, Vans Stevenson, a senior official of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), has said that the movie-studio group will resist demands by politicians to impose an R rating on any film depicting smoking. "Smoking is a matter of creative expression. People smoke, and that is an element that is sometimes depicted on screen," Stevenson told today's (Tuesday) Pasadena Star-News. "We're not in the business of telling people how to tell stories." Stevenson's remarks would appear to conflict with those of screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, who claims that nicotine-addicted movie stars insist that their characters be depicted as smokers.

Brookline Farmers' Market

Crème Brulée, encore

Pixar Love

"Hey, there's a beverage involved here!"

Whither Camino 0.8?

22 January 2004: We are in the process of driving the Camino 0.8 buglist for release. We will be branching off Mozilla 1.7 (now scheduled for April) and will release shortly after. We expect Camino 0.8 to be faster and even more solid than 0.7, while adding a number of features requested by the community. If you would like to help with QA or development, join us in the #camino IRC channel on irc.mozilla.org. (emphasis added)

In desperation (and boredom) i downloaded Omniweb 5.0 ß 6 today, but it failed to properly render almost every feature of this site i was interested in. Too bad, Omniweb was my browser of choice before Camino. It does have this weird alternate way of dealing with tabs, where you have a pull-out drawer and little thumbnails of each tab that reload the same time as each page. i found that strangely unsettling.

i rarely use Safari; it seems impossibly slow compared to Camino.

i suppose it is worth waiting for if it comes out great; i just wish they would post an update.

Funnest kitchen toy EVER

Free Museums for Some

Only if you are a Fleet Bank member, of course. i *almost* regret cancelling my account, but not quite. Thanks for the link, Jenblossom!

To celebrate our continued commitment to arts and culture, we are happy to announce the return of the highly successful program Museums On Us! We have teamed up with over 50 of the finest museums in the Northeast, offering Fleet and Bank of America cardholders exclusive opportunities to visit each of these museums FREE during the month of May, 2004!

Diebold pt III: hey, some hope

California Bans E-Vote Machines

California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley ended five months of speculation and announced Friday that he was decertifying all electronic touch-screen voting machines in the state due to security concerns and lack of voter confidence.

He also said that he was passing along evidence to the state's attorney general to bring criminal and civil charges against voting-machine-maker Diebold Election Systems for fraud.

Good news

i may need to get the T-shirt. Or the café bag, which is extremely cute, and has one of those tags too.

A Wrinkle in Time

Hey if it sucks, then at least there is the pain that Pixar will inflict for consolation. c.f. Steve Jobs' shit-eating grin:

Finally

London Calling Back

Bear

Check out the creator website, too. It is very cute, and you can learn to draw Bear, sorta:

PacManhattan Fever

Some people have WAAAAY too much time.

A player dressed as Pac-man will run around the Washington square park area of Manhattan while attempting to collect all of the virtual "dots" that run the length of the streets. Four players dressed as the ghosts Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde will attempt to catch Pac-man before all of the dots are collected.