randomwalks/dj

A wonderful article from The Economist on the not-so-near-future of cell phones. [via pasta and vinegar].

"What mobile phones will look like in a year or two is easy to guess: they will be slimmer and probably will let you watch television on the move. But what about ten or 15 years from now?

A selection of some of the more entertaining predictions:

-- The chances are that phones will not only look very different—they may not even be seen. They may be hidden in jewellery or accessories, or even embedded in the body. They will undoubtedly have a host of additional features and novel uses, and users will probably interact with them in new ways, too.

-- According to Bruce Sterling, a science-fiction writer, phones will be “remote controls, house keys, Game Boys, flashlights, maps, compasses, flash drives, health monitors, microphones, recorders, laser pointers, passports, make-up kits, burglar alarms, handguns, handcuffs and slave bracelets.”

-- In a decade's time a typical phone will have enough storage capacity to be able to video its user's entire life.

-- Tiny projectors inside handsets could allow walls, tabletops or screens made of flexible materials to be used as displays while on the move, suggests Jeff Wacker, a futurist at EDS, a technology-services firm.

It is one thing to speculate about the technical possibilities of future phones, but quite another to imagine the social consequences. In the 1980s nobody foresaw that mobile phones would become anything more than executive playthings; and the runaway success of text-messaging took the entire industry by surprise.

No doubt much of this speculation about the future of the phone will prove to be as misguided as AT&T's vision of the Picturephone back in 1964".

Originally from textually.org by emily reBlogged on Dec 2, 2006, 11:04AM

Originally posted by emily from textually.org, on December 2, 2006 12:09 PM

I've been waiting for this hand-drawn video game for ages.

Originally from tecznotes links by Michal Migurski reBlogged on Dec 1, 2006, 10:00PM

Originally posted by Michal Migurski from tecznotes links, on December 2, 2006 9:29 AM

NEWSgrist will be on hiatus while it goes off to Miami next week. For thorough schedules and roundups, check out ARTINFO: Art Basle Miami Beach and Artnet: Miami Art Extra.

Originally from NEWSgrist - where spin is art by joy garnett reBlogged

Originally posted by joy garnett from NEWSgrist - where spin is art, on December 2, 2006 9:27 AM

Originally from hustler of culture by souris reBlogged

Originally posted by souris from hustler of culture, on December 2, 2006 9:27 AM

I don't know exactly what the significance of this realization is to me, but I thought I'd share. The debate between Robert Scoble and Dave Winer about Microsoft and innovation, on the Wall Street Journal's website, is the best thing I think I've seen either of them write.

I've read a few of Dave's older long-form essays, but I've never seen Robert write anything of this length. (Or, perhaps, of this degree of focus.) And I don't actually read their blogs directly -- I find that links from, and discussion of, their sites leads me to reading the blogs of these two fellows pretty frequently without having to seek them out. For what it's worth, I'd definitely subscribe to their sites if this were the kind of content they regularly published. The quality of the debate stands out in comparison to the underwhelming discussion it's inspired so far.

And for what it's worth, I agree with the points that both of them make about Microsoft, too.

Originally from Anil Dash by Anil reBlogged

Originally posted by Anil from Anil Dash, on December 2, 2006 9:27 AM

The more I learn about the NBA, the more I realize how many smart and engaged people there are in every part of the league. People who read more than the sports section.

Given the big stage they have, it's surprisiing to me that more of them don't try to influence public thought more. Dave Zirin points out that plenty of athletes have indicated they are anti-war, for instance, yet for some reason they don't band together to throw their weight around:

Steve Nash, Etan Thomas, Josh Howard, Adam Morrison, Carlos Delgado, Martina Navratilova, Adonal Foyle, and even Ultimate Fighting Champion Jeff Monson, among others, have all raised their voice. They are also just the beginning. Stories circulate of teammates and coaches who share their views but don't want to go public. Even some referees whisper covert statements of support.

Three years ago, The Nation Magazine writers Peter Dreier & Kelly Candaele asked the question "Where are the Jocks for Justice?" My experience in the Sportsworld is that the "Jocks for Justice" are both everywhere and nowhere. Progressive athletes strain to be heard, but they act as individuals and the media responds with a smothering silence. This does not have to be.

Pro athletes hold claim to a unique and underutilized bully pulpit. Two middle fingers from Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick have sent sports radio and television into a tizzy. Chicago Bulls center Ben Wallace wants to wear a red headband in defiance of team rules and a raucous debate explodes about something last popularized by Olivia Newton-John. The furor over Barry Bonds' place in history has led to a more honest discussion about racism than anything we get in the mainstream press.

Anti-war athletes could use this platform if they just stopped operating in isolation from one another. If the people I cited called a joint press conference to announce a new organization: Athletes United Against War or - what the hell - Jocks for Justice, it would electrify the cultural landscape.

Originally from True Hoop by Henry Abbott reBlogged on Dec 1, 2006, 10:24AM

Originally posted by Henry Abbott from True Hoop, on December 1, 2006 9:53 PM

Using a geometric shape called a Reuleaux triangle, it's possible to drill square holes. Click through for all the exciting math!
Update: A video of a Reuleaux triangle rotating in a square. (thx, will)
Update: More on the Reuleaux triangle at MathWorld. (thx, nevan)
Update: The Reuleaux triangle is also the basis for the Wankel engine.. (thx, brian & adam)

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Dec 1, 2006, 10:24AM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on December 1, 2006 9:53 PM

Today is December 1st, and you know what that means? It's the first day of my chocolate advent calendar! I couldn't resist picking one up last week when I spied them at the market. And I was so excited to get started with it this morning. Having a chocolate advent calendar is one of my favorite childhood memories. We never got to have candy, so getting a small chocolate each day for nearly a month was almost better than Christmas itself. One year, we got calendars that had an extra-large chocolate for the 24th. Each day I carefully opened the cardboard door to reveal the small chocolate inside, and savored it with my breakfast.

Every day, I edged closer and closer to the big one, until the morning of the 24th. I sat at the table with my calendar in hand, and as I attempted to pry open the door, I realized it had already been opened. Someone had opened it and then closed it again. And then I looked in shock: No Chocolate! My giant chocolate I'd been waiting a month for was gone! And who was the culprit? My brother, who'd eaten his entire chocolate advent calendar in one sitting on December 1st and couldn't resist eating mine as well. Honestly, I remember this as one of the most crushing disappointments of my childhood. Probably because my brother not only didn't get in trouble for eating his calendar, but he didn't get punished for eating mine either! And I, the patient older child who played by the rules, was just out one giant Santa-shaped chocolate. My calendar this year doesn't have an over-sized chocolate for the 24th. Nevertheless, I will be hyper-vigilant, lest my husband attempt a similar, nefarious trick to crush my chocolate advent spirit!

comments are open

Originally from Megnut by meg@megnut.com (Meg Hourihan) reBlogged on Dec 1, 2006, 10:23AM

Originally posted by meg@megnut.com (Meg Hourihan) from Megnut, on December 1, 2006 9:53 PM

Poets Walt Whitman Marianne Moore loved the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and so does Francis Morrone of the Sun. In a laudatory column about the facility today, he writes:

"The recently restored exterior terra-cotta work, and the interior plasterwork, are as fine as anything in the city. To attend a performance or to see a film at BAM, even to eat a burger at the BAM café is an exalting experience. The magnificent lobby, the sybaritic Howard Gilman Opera House, and the spaces expertly transformed into screening rooms have no peer in New York."

I don't know about the burgers (anyone tried 'em?), but the space is definitely my favorite place in the borough to see a performance or movie. It may have a run for its money if the gorgeous Loew's Kings on Flatbush is restored, though. Other historic theaters in Brooklyn have been turned into gyms, but are there any hidden favorites in your nabe?

Proud Music of the Academy [NY Sun]
Seeking a Champion for the Loew’s Kings [NY Times]

Originally from Brooklyn Record by Christy reBlogged on Dec 1, 2006, 9:46AM

Originally posted by Christy from Brooklyn Record, on December 1, 2006 9:53 PM

What if we got some of Toronto’s most exciting architects and designers to build gingerbread houses? The Toronto Star's got the amazing results from seven firms and the photos are great. A far cry from what I envision building. If you live in the Toronto area, you can see the houses on display at the Manulife Centre at 55 Bloor St. W. Very cool.

Originally from Megnut by meg@megnut.com (Meg Hourihan) reBlogged on Dec 1, 2006, 2:04PM

Originally posted by meg@megnut.com (Meg Hourihan) from Megnut, on December 1, 2006 9:52 PM

Leslie Harpold's 2006 Advent Calendar is up. Each day contains a link, a holiday memory, and something special. (Leslie is still looking for holiday memories to include—send yours in today.) Still one of the most delightful Web projects in existence. Bookmark it, and check back every day.

Originally from Rebecca's Pocket reBlogged on Dec 1, 2006, 1:36PM

Originally from Rebecca's Pocket, on December 1, 2006 9:52 PM

• David Thorpe really shows off his basketball knowledge in an in-depth analysis of Kobe Bryant's game. It's must-read. You could pick almost any paragraphs as insightful, for instance: "...trying to block his shot inside the paint is not a good idea. He can use teardrops, runners or floaters to get his shot off. It is better to work at cutting his angles off and blocking him out after he releases his shot. Most defenders fail at this disciplined approach, as Bryant always is among the league leaders in free throws per shot attempt. Without the ball in his hands, Bryant is not as dangerous as some other players. Only 31 percent of his 'close' baskets come on Lakers assists. (As a point of comparison, Carmelo Anthony's 'close' buckets are assisted 62 percent of the time.) So when Bryant is cutting or screening inside, he is not often the target of the action, unless he pops out to the perimeter."
• Rasheed Wallace does a pre-game Dwyane Wade impersonation.
• See Jack McCallum talk about his book Seven Seconds or Less for free in New York.
• The Onion sticks it to Bill Walton.
• Cool NBA-themed sneakers.
• Basketbawful on the Knicks: "...the crazy thing about their record is the fact that they're 5-5 on the road...and only 1-6 at home. The Knicks are one of only 10 teams so far this season to be at least .500 on the road, but they have the worst home record in the league. Simply put, this is because their fans hate them."
• Looks like Brian Davis and Christian Laettner will get their shot at buying the Grizzlies, as the minority owners reportedly won't take advantage of their right of first refusal.
• Lenny Wilkens is back in the fold with the Sonics. That gives the new owners a local face, which is smart.
• Wages of Wins isn't gaga for Adam Morrison.
• Brad Miller, comfortable in camo.
• Check out Jerry Powell, basketball trainer, on YouTube. Context to follow as I confirm some facts about Powell.

Originally from True Hoop by Henry Abbott reBlogged on Dec 1, 2006, 1:31PM

Originally posted by Henry Abbott from True Hoop, on December 1, 2006 9:52 PM

Check out Chiara’s latest essay where she discusses what exactly gets information architects and user experience professionals so excited about tags.

Originally from Adaptive Path by Amanda Willoughby reBlogged on Dec 1, 2006, 1:30PM

Originally posted by Amanda Willoughby from Adaptive Path, on December 1, 2006 9:52 PM

Forgotten New York's latest entry explores the northern reaches of Fourth Avenue, one of the last Park Slope enclaves to resist gentrification. Developers are starting to take hold there, too, with several new high-rises in the works; in some ways it's prime territory for them because Fourth is an "extra-wide-load" avenue, FNY explains. The site's photo essay aims to capture the scene before the area changes permanently, and it provides some choice bits of neighborhood history along the way.

Going Fourth [Forgotten New York]

Originally from Brooklyn Record by Christy reBlogged on Dec 1, 2006, 11:41AM

Originally posted by Christy from Brooklyn Record, on December 1, 2006 9:52 PM

For the past few months, I've been helping Ed Levine and a small team get a new food website called Serious Eats off the ground. Though the site will officially launch on Monday, Megnut readers can get some special "friends and family" access starting right now. Simply visit http://preview.seriouseats.com. You will be prompted for a username ("serious") and a password ("eater") to enter, and then you can take a look around and create an account. We've got discussions, original content like features and video, and a whole lot more to come. This is just the beginning. I hope you enjoy it and I look forward to your feedback. We want to make it the best damn food site on the web. Well, second best, second to Megnut, of course! ;)

Originally from Megnut by meg@megnut.com (Meg Hourihan) reBlogged on Dec 1, 2006, 5:30PM

Originally posted by meg@megnut.com (Meg Hourihan) from Megnut, on December 1, 2006 9:50 PM

Gothamist on how to score a Wii:

Elbow grease is necessary in order to eventually get Wii Elbow, so suck it up, dress appropriately and be nice to your fellow people in line because you never know when you'll need spot on line saved so you can run to a Starbucks for the bathroom.

The commenter who said "I just came from the Best Buy on 6th and 23rd -- they've been in limited supply, but they've got em." may be on to something, I've seen lines there the last few mornings, but I wasn't sure for what.

Originally from hello, nintendo by David Jacobs reBlogged on Dec 1, 2006, 4:21PM

Originally posted by David Jacobs from hello, nintendo, on December 1, 2006 9:50 PM

Seriously, it's a dreadfully well put together high (low) light series of Portland's meltdown in the 2000 Western Conference Finals. As a Portland fan, I haven't watched anything like it for years, but watching it did remind me of several important points, namely that I blame: Damon Stoudamire's hair, Mike Dunleavy Jr.'s presence on the bench, Steve Smith's slow-footed D, and the really bizarre decision to tank the team offense for "four guys watching one guy playing one-on-two."

Originally from True Hoop by Henry Abbott reBlogged on Dec 1, 2006, 4:09PM

Originally posted by Henry Abbott from True Hoop, on December 1, 2006 9:50 PM

A short highlight reel of recent projects @ Eyebeam.

Click To Play

(thx Perry and Jerry!)

Originally from braintag reBlogged on Dec 1, 2006, 4:08PM

Originally from braintag, on December 1, 2006 9:50 PM

That's the Paris Metro, bien sur.

Excellent papercraft, monsieur Hubert, truly excellent.

(UPDATE: Title changed from Tie-Fighter. Which is worrying, because for me to get that wrong is like.. a brain haemorrhage. Which I can still spell, so something's up. Fear!)

Originally from Wonderland by Alice reBlogged on Dec 1, 2006, 3:16PM

Originally posted by Alice from Wonderland, on December 1, 2006 9:50 PM

It starts with Black Friday. It's followed by a tidal wave of news reports on how we're doing as a nation, and as a people based on our retail consumption over the next month. It continues with pans of people in line to buy Wii's and PS3's, and the trampling over of each other as the store doors open.

And then there's Leslie Harpold.

For the past 6 years Leslie has lovingly hand-crafted her Advent Calendar. Every year it's special and every year it manages to be the spark that reignites the hope for a happy holiday season by reminding us of the decency we are capable of as human beings.

Thanks for doing it again, Leslie.

And by the way; if you have a special holiday story to tell Leslie wants them.

Originally from Mule Design : Off the Hoof by Mike Monteiro reBlogged on Dec 1, 2006, 3:05PM

Originally posted by Mike Monteiro from Mule Design : Off the Hoof, on December 1, 2006 9:50 PM

It's even better, I say! We need less, not more these days and BuzzFeed filters and it filters well and entertainingly.

If you haven't yet checked out BuzzFeed consider today your lucky day!

Originally from Andrea Harner by Andrea reBlogged on Dec 1, 2006, 2:54PM

Originally posted by Andrea from Andrea Harner, on December 1, 2006 9:50 PM

I've upgraded the Drupal installation so we can use the OpenID module. A few things learned in the process:

• The Drupal upgrade path requires incremental steps; to go from one minor version to another two numbers way means upgrading through every intermediate minor version until reaching the target. Earlier versions fail to be useful in 'knowing' which data model version the system is at, so an upgrade meant importing / guessing / dropping and repeating the cycle until I hit on the right one, which in itself was not an easy state to assess.
• The module administration page loads every module, which can cause memory issues resulting in a blank page. Removing unnecessary, unused modules helps.
• The JanRain OpenID 1.2.0 pear installation fails to install itself properly, requiring the moving of directories post-install.
• The OpenID module does not respect settings on account creation. I wrote some code to fix this.

But we're now at the latest Drupal version; and more on OpenID later.

Originally from Decentralized Information Group (DIG) Breadcrumbs blogs reBlogged on Dec 1, 2006, 9:15PM

Originally from Decentralized Information Group (DIG) Breadcrumbs blogs, on December 1, 2006 9:46 PM

Very interesting study of what the Top 50 Magazines are doing online. (via Paid Content  who have links to the doc and to other comments about it. If you click through read on their site posts about Conde Nast restructuring to give individual mags control of their sites and a post about WSJ reporters focusing on blogs, podcasts, and inforaphics)

Originally from DefinitiveInk by joshua mack reBlogged on Dec 1, 2006, 6:40PM

Originally posted by joshua mack from DefinitiveInk, on December 1, 2006 9:46 PM

Talking about, among other things, saving a million lives in Africa, by getting testing kits to weed out tainted blood used in transfusions.

I was just talking about athletes getting political..

Originally from True Hoop by Henry Abbott reBlogged on Dec 1, 2006, 6:08PM

Originally posted by Henry Abbott from True Hoop, on December 1, 2006 9:46 PM

Last week I was talking about perfectionists with Maciej, which he says are currently out of style, but will come back again. The current vogue for the kind of fail publicly, rapid iteration, folksonomic, messy data strategy -- I hear this again and again at conferences and it's something I've subscribed to for a long time myself. So I found this perfectionist idea intriguing.

He related the story of the typesetting issues on Donald Knuth's book The Art of Computer Programming that compelled him to write TeX; I told him about Robert Bringhurst, a poet who learned Haida-Gwaii

Originally from Caterina.net by noemail@noemail.org (caterina) reBlogged on Dec 1, 2006, 5:11PM

Originally posted by noemail@noemail.org (caterina) from Caterina.net, on December 1, 2006 9:46 PM

(Blah, Blah, Blah installation by Skewville)

As we get closer to the public opening of Wooster on Spring, we thought we'd give you a few more details about the project. Because of the nature of the project, we won't be giving away a lot of the specifics until just before the event.

So here are some answers to a few of the questions that we've been receiving...

1. Will the building be open to the public to view the artwork inside?

Yes. The current plan is to open the building for three days in mid--December as an open house with panel discussions, film screenings, djs, and private walk-throughs. Because of the logistics, we won't be publishing the exact days and times until just before the event.

2. Who are some of the artists that are painting inside the building?

Artists involved in the show include WK, Blek Le Rat, Shepard Fairey, JACE, Bo and Microbo, D*Face, Maya Hayuk, Lister, Prune, JR, RIPO, Thundercut, Skewville, Elboe-Toe, Jasmine Zimmerman, You Are Beautiful, Dan Witz, Judith Supine, Above, Rekal, Gore-B, FAILE, The London Police, Rene Gagnon, Gaetane Michaux, Darkclouds... and many, many other surprise guests.

3. Will the artwork stay up in the building and outside after the event?

No. In December and January, the new owners of the building will begin restoration and construction and all of the artwork will be destroyed. The only chance to see it will be during the three day event in December.

4. Are you (Wooster) and the artists working with the new owners of the building on this project?

Yes. A few weeks ago Sara and I met with Caroline Cummings, one of the new owners of 11 Spring. Caroline, who is a major supporter of the arts, wanted to let us know that she and her partners understood the rich history that the building has had, and they wanted to do something that celebrated the role the building has had in the neighborhood and with artists from all over the world. Sara and I suggested curating an art event in the building before construction began. Caroline and her partners agreed and the project began. Projects like this happen from time to time in Europe, but rarely in the United States, and never in the middle of one of the best neighborhoods in Manhattan.

4. Can anyone paint inside the building?

No, unfortunately not. All of the artwork inside the building is being organized and curated by the Wooster Collective. While we're adding new artists to the project each day, everyone involved has been part of the Wooster site over the last five years. Unfortunately, it's impossible to include all of the artists who we would like, but we're doing the best that we can. As we juggle space and access to the building, artists are being invited each day up until the actual event.

More information coming soon....

Originally from Wooster Collective reBlogged on Nov 30, 2006, 6:53AM

Originally from Wooster Collective, on December 1, 2006 9:44 AM

The Whine Colored Sea issues a challenge: which directors, musicians, artists, authors, etc. followed a masterpiece with a bomb. Spielberg's Schindler's List followed by Jurassic Park 2 is a good example. (Comment on this)

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Nov 30, 2006, 9:58AM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on December 1, 2006 9:44 AM

I have now had two reasonable sized portions of Twilight Princess gameplay.  This hasn't gotten me tremendously far into the game, only about four hours, but I am starting to form some initial impressions.

As with pretty much everyone else who has written anything on the Internet about this game, I am rather into it.  It is great and I am happy and all that glory being heaped upon it is accurate and well-deserved.

This morning, however, I am at work and not playing Zelda, and that does not make me happy.  That makes me petulant and cranky and so I will turn my irritation into rationalization and point out all the things I've encountered so far about this game that aren't great.

Please be aware that after this point there are some minor spoilers about the first 4-5 hours of the game.

First, there's Midna.  Midna?  Sweetheart?  You're a bitch.  There's a particular personality archetype that Nintendo really seems to enjoy inflicting upon its players.  The smart-ass privileged know-it-all bitch shows up in many games and in the tradition of the Zora Princess from Ocarina of Time, it looks like once again it's up to poor Link to carry her around.  I hope there is some charming element of her personality buried deep under that giant mask of hers.

Generally speaking I am well-pleased by all the audio call-backs to previous Zeldas, but two in particular seem like they're going to really get under my skin.  First is the voice of the nearest bumpkin calling for your attention.  If one more tubby chucklehead comes running at me yelling "he-ey" I'm going to have to call Wayne Brady, and my man is going to have to choke a bitch.  I respect that this is ultimately a GameCube game so the voice acting is going to suck ass, but this particular clip makes me want to practice getting Deku Seeds stuck up his nostrils from the opposite end of his body.

The other noise irritating me, and I am actually in real life somewhat saddened by this fact, is the "secret revealed" jingle.  This is probably my favorite Zelda noise.  When I can't find my keys and I spend half an hour in the morning cursing in increasingly profane ways until I finally move aside the correct piece of paper from the living room coffee table, I play (in my head as I don't have a set of chimes handy for every occasion) everyone's favorite jingle.  The jingle itself hasn't changed, but it's being routed through the unfortunately crappy speaker from the remote.  Turning the remote volume down to two or three does reduce the suck quite significantly but not enough to prevent tiny bits of my childhood being ruthlessly daggered into submission every time it plays.  When did I become such a fidelity queen anyway?

Finally, I can't let any discussion of the first four hours of this game passing without remarking in some negative manner upon the amount of video and exposition.  Seriously Nintendo, it's time to look for a new story-telling device.  There hasn't yet been a time monopolizing drama blitz like the one from Ocarina where you first awaken as the Hero of Time, but given how much time has already been spent pressing the A button to inflict the next 30 seconds of cut scene on my watching family I can only anticipate its coming with fear and dread.

The Zelda series of games is probably my favorite.  They are extremely well executed and have never failed to live up to my expectations and hopes.  It is sort of like negative space.  On a plane that is otherwise filled with solid goodness, tiny specks of bad stick out and draw more attention than they are worth.  The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess has all the signs of being an absolutely fantastic game just as its forebears did, and ultimatley the suffering caused by the strong anticipation of my next opportunity to play is probably the worst damn thing about this game.

Originally from hello, nintendo by Rob Drimmie reBlogged on Nov 30, 2006, 9:13AM

Originally posted by Rob Drimmie from hello, nintendo, on December 1, 2006 9:44 AM

Engadget's Peter Rojas on Rocketboom on the next big things for mobile phones.

And some personal insight:

- Peter has 7 laptops

- Prefers e-mail over voice calls

- His zune "has yet to lose his virginity - mate with another zune ( lonely Zune 15)" - so few people own Zunes - even in Manhattan

- Peter's apartments looks like the Samsung Experience

- - Engadget is getting ready for the Consumer Electronics Show in early January , the most hellish week of the year with 150 posts a day and 16 to 20 hour days, daily podcasts, video- a comprehensive coverage in real time.

- The most low-fi gadget he owns? A royal typewriter from the 30s given by his grandmother.

Originally from textually.org by emily reBlogged on Nov 30, 2006, 1:06PM

Originally posted by emily from textually.org, on December 1, 2006 9:40 AM

I learned something terrific yesterday: if you take a really cold but still liquid beer out of the freezer and open it, the beer will freeze within seconds. The freezing trick also works if instead of opening the beer, you give the unopened bottle a sharp rap. The reasons I've found online for why the trick works varies slightly for the two cases. According to Daryl Taylor's site for science teachers, opening the bottle changes the pressure in the bottle and thus lowers the temperature:

The sealed bottle's envoronment has a specific volume, pressure, and temperature. By changing one, you are necessarily affecting the others. The chilled liquid has a smaller temperature, esentially the same volume, thus a smaller smaler pressure. This is, of cousre, according to the basic gas-law, PVNERT. Better known as PV=nRT. Even though the internal pressure has decreased, it is still far greater than the pressure outside the container, namely one atmosphere. Upon opening, the pressure inside drastically plunges as it tries to equalize with the atmosphere. This rapid decrease in P corresponds to a rapid decrease in T, since the V is essentially the same. This rapid drop in temperature of a liquid that is NEAR freezing actually plunges the liquid into a frozen state.

Not sure I completely buy this...does the ideal gas law work for liquids? I can see that the small amount of gas in the neck of the bottle would decrease in pressure and thus decrease in temperature and that might be enough to spur the liquid into freezing. For a better answer for both cases, I consulted the internet's all-seeing oracle, Ask Metafilter. This comment gives a succinct answer:

The beer is below the freezing temperature, but there is not enough contamination for the ice to form. The bubbles of carbon dioxide released when the bottle is hit act as nuclei for ice crystal growth in the supercooled beer. Same thing happens in reverse when water is microwaved in a smooth container but won't boil until hit.

This more scientific discussion of unfreezable water provides more evidence of what may be going on: supercooling effects, the carbon dioxide in solution hindering freezing (osmotic depression of freezing point), and hydration factors. Anyway, wicked cool! Supercooled beer! (Digg this?)

Originally from kottke.org reBlogged on Nov 30, 2006, 11:46AM

Originally from kottke.org, on December 1, 2006 9:40 AM

From the press release: "Sun Microsystems, creator of the open source Solaris OS, announced the launch of The Big Mashup, a unique online experience examining how the world of entertainment and news gathering is rapidly changing as the network blurs the line between audience and entertainer, viewer and newscaster, fan and producer.

Chris Melissinos, Sun Microsystems' chief technology officer for Web 2.0 and a self-proclaimed video game addict, hosts the documentary video showcasing entertainment and media thought leaders such as Andrew Baron, founder, and Joanne Colan, host of Rocketboom; Gillian Caldwell, executive director of WITNESS; Joel Hyatt, Current TV's CEO and co-founder; Douglas Rushkoff, writer and lecturer on technology, pop culture and media; Paul D. Miller/DJ Spooky, artist, writer, musician and producer; and Martin Stiksel, Last.fm's CCO. These industry pundits will give their perception of how the network has changed for businesses and the way entertainers perform. "

LINK.

Originally from Dembot by Rocketboom reBlogged on Nov 30, 2006, 10:48AM

Originally posted by Rocketboom from Dembot, on December 1, 2006 9:40 AM

So we’re starting to do some more work for AOL - this timre utilizing their new AIM APIs.

We’re gonna bake it into PeopleAggregator and come up with some coolio Whimsicals (as they call Widgets.)  So I’ve been diving deep into these APIs.  Here’s some demos of WIM.

MY gutt told me one thing immediately:

- now that Yahoo has BB Auth, AOL needs to have AIM Auth

- just like Yahoo will enable us to enable our end-users to use their Yahoo ID as a log-in

- I think AOL should enable end-users to use their AIM screenname - for the same thing

- we’ll support both in our Identity Hub strategy

It’s Ted Leonsis’ ‘Magic Carpet’ finally come to life.

Lots of folks are focused on this stuff - and this is a great opportunity for AOL to join the party!

So shoutout to Stephen Benedict:

YOU DUDE - lets get AIM Auth happening!

Originally from unmediated by yatta reBlogged on Nov 30, 2006, 12:59PM

Originally posted by yatta from unmediated, on December 1, 2006 9:36 AM

a site tree visualization based on referrer data, showing how online users travel through a specific website. all traffic moves clockwise around the map, enters at the bottom of the page & exits at the top of the page. thicker lines mean more traffic, while the color of traffic leaving a page matches the color of the section it is going to & vice versa.

[link: designweenie.com|via knowingart.com]

Originally from information aesthetics reBlogged on Nov 30, 2006, 10:40PM

Originally from information aesthetics, on December 1, 2006 9:35 AM

How to choose a good book to read, a tip from Marshall McLuhan: turn to page 69, read it, and if it's good, you've got a winner. (via snarkmarket)

Originally from kottke.org remaindered links by jkottke reBlogged on Nov 30, 2006, 5:26PM

Originally posted by jkottke from kottke.org remaindered links, on December 1, 2006 9:35 AM

Rhizome's running our annual community campaign, right now. Please support our work & community. You can also pick up some great new media art!

Originally from del.icio.us/subscriptions/djacobs by marisaolson reBlogged on Nov 30, 2006, 4:56PM

Originally posted by marisaolson from del.icio.us/subscriptions/djacobs, on December 1, 2006 9:35 AM

Posted by Adam Bosworth, Vice President

At Google, we often get questions about what we're doing in the area of health. I have been interested in the issues of health care and health information for a while. It is now one of my main focuses here, and I've decided to start posting about it. I've been motivated in this field in part by my personal experiences helping to care for my mother, who recently died from cancer after a four-year battle. While the quality of the medical care my mother received was extraordinary, I saw firsthand how challenged the health care system was in supporting caregivers and communicating between different medical organizations. The system didn't fail completely, but struggled with these phases:

• What was wrong -- it took her doctors nine months to correctly identify an illness which had classic symptoms
• Who should treat her -- there was no easy way to figure out who were the best local physicians and caregivers, which ones were covered by her insurance, and how we could get them to agree to treat her
• Once she was treated, she had a chronic illness, and needed ongoing care and coordinated nursing and monitoring, particularly once her illness recurred

Once she had a correct diagnosis and we'd found the right doctor, her treatment was excellent. But before and after treatment, most people with serious illnesses have to live through these other phases and suffer similar problems. She was trying to get help from her caregivers in the family and it was incredibly challenging to get the right information and help her make the right decisions. Often the health care system isn't well set up to address these issues. I believe our industry can help resolve some of these problems and ameliorate others.

In the end, one key part of the solution to these problems is a better educated patient. If patients understand their diseases better -- the symptoms, the treatments, the drugs, and the side effects, they are likely to get better and quicker care -- before, during, and after treatment. We have already launched some improvements to web search that help patients more easily find the health information they are looking for. Using the Google Co-op platform, Google and the health community have labeled sites and pages across the web making it easier for users to refine their health queries and locate the medical information they need. Do a search on Google about a medical issue or treatment like diabetes or Lipitor and you'll see some choices for refining your query, such as "symptoms," "treatments," and so on. If you click on "treatment," your search results are refined and reordered so that sites that have been labeled as being about treatment by trusted health community contributors are boosted in the rankings. Note that how trusted a contributor is -– and thus how much they affect your search results -– is dependent both on Google's algorithms and on who the user decides they trust. For example, if my doctor is a Google Co-op contributor and I indicate to Google that I trust her, then when I search, the sites she has labeled as relevant will show up higher in my search results.

This is just the beginning of what our industry can do. People need the medical information that is out there and available to be organized and made accessible to all. Which happens to be our mission. Health information should be easier to access and organize, especially in ways that make it as simple as possible to find the information that is most relevant to a specific patient's needs.

Patients also need to be able to better coordinate and manage their own health information. We believe that patients should control and own their own health information, and should be able to do so easily. Today it is much too difficult to get access to one's health records, for example, because of the substantial administrative obstacles people have to go through and the many places they have to go to collect it all. Compare this to financial information, which is much more available from the various institutions that help manage your financial "health." We believe our industry should help solve this problem.

As the Internet increasingly helps link communities of people, we also think there is an opportunity to connect people with similar health interests, concerns and problems. Today, people too often don't know that others like them even exist, let alone how to find them. The industry should help there, too.

These are some of the health-related problems we're thinking through at Google. We don't have any products or services to announce yet and may not for quite some time, but we thought we'd share a bit about the problems we're interested in helping out on even before we introduce solutions. As we explore these problems and continue to work on them, we hope to share more about our efforts along the way. Your help is welcome and, of course, if you're an extraordinary engineer with a passion in this field, we'd love to hear from you. Write to us at health@google.com .

Originally from Official Google Blog by A Googler reBlogged on Nov 30, 2006, 4:19PM

Originally posted by A Googler from Official Google Blog, on December 1, 2006 9:35 AM

street talk. Photo by Dope on the Slope.
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