New Scientist: US voters are less partisan than they think.
“The actual degree of polarisation according to party affiliation was fairly modest, but people thought it was much wider – especially those who described themselves as ‘strong’ Republicans or Democrats. These patterns have been consistent since 1970.” Suspicious of this. What was the baseline? Culture and politics have moved significantly rightward since 1980.
Seattle Times: Alaska Airlines to stop handing out prayer cards to passengers.
You know, Spalding Gray used to tell a story of taking a flight in an Asian country with a particular dominant religion. When he climbed on board, the plane was lined up with the runway and the pilots were busy taping newspaper all over the cockpit windows because the sun was in their eyes. His comment, “I decided to think twice about flying with pilots whose religion features multiple reincarnations.” Pass on the prayer cards.
Still a phlegm machine, but at least I’m upright.
You’ll see a little linkage here. My voice is still either in the depths of Hades, or missing in action.
Thanks for all the well-wishes.
Kempt: The Strongest Liquor on Earth Comes to America.
“The drink itself is pot-distilled from potatoes, sugar and yeast, which means the closest American equivalent is moonshine—but even that’s not terribly close, given the strength of the spirits involved.” Oh no - I’ve had moonshine. I’ll pass.
Conde Nast Traveler: The New Airline Rules - Six things That Will Make Air Travel Easier.
Pricing may be more predictable.
NY Times: Does Technology Affect Happiness?
“Among the crucial questions that the researchers were not able to answer is whether the heavy use of media was the cause for the relative unhappiness or whether girls who are less happy to begin with are drawn to heavy use of media, in effect retreating to a virtual world.” This article will be the subject of many conversations, I suspect.
Lists of Note: Who killed JFK?
Another fascinating slice of history, from a great blog.
The Atlantic: The Gmail Logo Was Designed the Night Before Gmail Launched.
If ad-agencies barred last-minute creative sessions, there’d be many fewer logos around.
PetaPixel: Why Wedding Photographers’ Prices are “Wack”.
A wedding photographer answers the complaints of a soon-to-be bride. The comments are nitpicky, but worth also perusing.
Day Three of misery.
Not sure if this is cold or flu. Settling into my head and chest now ... my voice sounds like the croak of a tomb-raven. Fighting it. Hot toddys and hot-packs. Links will be sparse, until I feel substantially better.
LiveScience: Mysterious ‘Winged’ Structure from Ancient Rome Discovered.
I’d love to work on solving this mystery.
Rob Galbraith DPI: Q+A with enlight photo’s James Madelin about ioShutter.
Remember this? Hooks your iOS device to your DSLR. There’s been a lot of buzzing interest about this. The whack is the price of the cable, not the app.
CINEMETRICS — film data visualization.
Better than your average infographic, certainly.
MeFi: Raiders of the Lost Archetype.
It’s on Netflix. Add it to your queue.
New Scientist: Vultures skeletonise corpse for the sake of forensics
I don’t think our New Mexican vultures would be so slow on the draw. They’re always on the lookout.
Rob Galbraith DPI: NASA releases stunning high-resolution photo of Earth from space.
You can see the Rio Grande quite clearly. It surely *is* a stunning photo.
NPR: Why McDonald’s In France Doesn’t Feel Like Fast Food.
“McDonald’s, meanwhile, offers all kinds of Frenchified dishes, from the Alpine burger with three different kinds of cheese to tasty little gallette des rois, or King’s Cakes, popular after Christmas and sold by all the bakeries. Last year, it introduced the McBaguette.”
!!!
WSJ: When Stress Is Good for You.
“In addition to thinking positively about stressors, deep abdominal breathing and training in meditation and mindfulness, or regulating one’s own mental and physical states, help moderate stress.” For those who recycle worries. Nothing earth-shattering here, but thought it would be helpful.
Still under the weather.
Catch as catch can.
SF New Mexican: CenturyLink customers ‘outraged’ by outage.
Hmmm. CenturyLink should pony up the ‘coffee tax’ price for these folks having to sit at coffeeshops, at the very least.
SF New Mexican: Governor’s moves frustrate even some in GOP.
“While the confusion likely won’t affect the final outcome of the 30-day session, some lawmakers are suggesting the episode shows Gov. Martinez’s continuing struggle to understand how the Legislature works.” No PeachPit QuickStart guides, then?
NeatDesigns: Fabulous Ads From The 1960s (Series Finale).
Even more through links at the bottom of the page. Many blasts from the past. Didn’t realize Barbie was a teaching tool ...
The 99%: Pat Kiernan On Curation Tactics, Getting Up Early & Calling It Done.
“In any story, I try to always find a stand-alone nugget to grab onto that ideally leaves you with something quotable.” Interesting thought. I suppose for a blog, you try for something tweetable.
DP Review: Similar, but not copied, image found to breach copyright.
See the links in the comments below. Seems the judge needed to get out a bit more ... perhaps buy some postcards.
Rob Galbraith DPI: Lexar 1000X blazes to 129MB/s read speed, best-in-class write speeds.
More speed is handier than you might suspect.
CR4: Grounding the Body for Health.
The image on the first comment is beyond perfect. Loosely filed under ‘science.’
technology review: One eBook Platform to Rule Them All.
Signed up ages ago, I think I’ve received two emails. Perhaps they’re more prepared now.
The Professional Hobo: My Cost of Full-Time Travel in 2011.
I can dream, can’t I?
SciAm: The Power of Introverts - A Manifesto for Quiet Brilliance.
The Atlantic, In Focus: Salvaging the TK Bremen.
Torn up in two weeks? Italy needs to hire these folks for the Concordia, which looks to be in much worse shape.
