Matt Lane

9-year-old's DIY cardboard arcade gets flashmobbed

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 09:47:00 +1200

9-year-old's DIY cardboard arcade gets flashmobbed:

…DIY cardboard arcade. Caine made his arcade using boxes from his dad’s used auto parts store. He hadn’t had many customers, so we set up a fun flashmob to make his day, and filmed his response. I hope it brings a smile to your day. P.S. Caine’s Arcade is in East LA. You should visit it sometime - Caine is still building new additions!” Caine Mo…

Ganzfeld hallucinations

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 10:33:42 +1300

Ganzfeld hallucinations:

The cognitive science journal Cortex has just released a special issue on the neuropsychology of paranormal experiences and belief, and contains a fantastic article on hallucinations induced by the Ganzfeld procedure.

The Ganzfeld procedure exposes the participant to ‘unstructured’ sensations usually by placing half ping-pong balls over the eyes so they can only see diffuse white light and by playing white noise through headphones.

It is probably best known for its uses in parapsychology experiments, but it is also used to induce hallucinations and sensory distortions which are much more likely to occur in the absence of clearly defined sensory experiences.

The article reviews the sorts of hallucinations reported in during these experiments and discusses what electrophysiology (EEG or ‘brain wave’) studies tell us about what happens in the cortex when these perceptual distortions kick off.

Some of the descriptions of hallucinations are really quite striking:

“For quite a long time, there was nothing except a green-greyish fog. It was really boring, I thought, ‘ah, what a non-sense experiment!’ Then, for an indefinite period of time, I was ‘off’, like completely absent-minded. Then, all of sudden, I saw a hand holding a piece of chalk and writing on a black-board something like a mathematical formula. The vision was very clear, but it stayed only for few seconds and disappeared again. The image did not fill up the entire visual field, it was just like a ‘window’ into that foggy stuff.”

“an urban scenery, like an empty avenue after a rain, large areas covered with water, and the city sky-line reflected in the water surface like in a mirror.”

“a clearing in a forest [Lichtung], a place bathed in bright sun-shine, and the trunks of trees around. A feeling of a tranquile summer afternoon in a forest, so quiet, so peaceful. And then, suddenly, a young woman passed by on a bicycle, very fast, she crossed the visual field from the right to the left, with her blond long hair waving in the air. The image of the entire scene was very clear, with many details, and yes, the colours were very vivid.”

“I can see his face, still, it’s very expressive… [I could see] only the horse that comes as if out of clouds. A white horse that jumped over me.”

“A friend of mine and I, we were inside a cave. We made a fire. There was a creek flowing under our feet, and we were on a stone. She had fallen into the creek, and she had to wait to have her things dried. Then she said to me: ‘Hey, move on, we should go now’.”

“It was like running a bob sleigh on an uneven runway right down… [There] was snow or maybe water running down… I could hear music, there was music coming from the left side below.”

“In the right side of the visual field, a manikin suddenly appeared. He was all in black, had a long narrow head, fairly broad shoulders, very long arms and a relatively small trunk…. He approached me, stretching out his hands, very long, very big, like a bowl, and he stayed so for a while, and then he went back to where he came from, slowly.”

You can simulate the Ganzfeld procedure in your own home by taping two half ping-pong balls over your eyes and listing to the radio tuned to static in an evenly lighted room.

The other articles in the special issue are also fascinating, and range from a study finding greater body asymmetry is related to higher levels of unusual beliefs – likely reflecting asymmetrical brain development, to an experiment looking at the cognitive psychology of people who believe they’ve been abducted by aliens.

Needless to say, there’s many more fascinating studies and Cortex has the advantage of not only being a leading neuropsychology journal but also making its material freely available as open-access articles. Enjoy!

Guy On A Buffalo

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 10:31:00 +1300

Guy On A Buffalo:

Unmissable and gripping first episode of “Guy on A Buffalo” http://j.mp/tUpleD (Video) via Willy

Top Ten Cutest Photos of 2011

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 10:23:00 +1300

Top Ten Cutest Photos of 2011:

#10 Cutest Photo of 2011:
Goosey Two Shoes

Just when we thought Red Goose Shoes went out of business decades ago, they go and make a comeback. Sender-inner Rebecca B. explains:

These nice folks were staying with us at the St. Francis Inn in St. Augustine, FL. They let me photograph their pet goose, who goes by the name of “Gator.”

While walking alongside his owners in urban or suburban areas, Gator often has to cross many blocks of asphalt and concrete. All that rough terrain takes a toll on his feet, so his people commissioned a special pair of Teva sandals for their bird.

They say it’s totally worth the expense, and Gator seems to like the shoes just fine …

… though sometimes it looks like he “marches” more than he walks. Very deliberate steps.

#9 Cutest Photo of 2011:
You’re my Puppy

According a story floating around the Internets, this little ginger foster kitten named Cheech was introduced to a teeny tiny five-day old orphaned chihuahua puppy named Casanova.

Cheech took to the little puppy, immediately grooming and cleaning him.

The puppy responded to his every touch, snuggling up to his new friend like a pup to his mother.

When Cheech was tired, he would climb into the puppy’s box and cuddle, sharing the heating blanket.

To Cheech, he was “his” puppy and best friend.

You have GOT to be kidding me [cross-eyed head tilt], Holly F. Photos may be by Kimberly J, we’re not sure…

[ooh ooh, lookit who popped up in the comments! the original story!]

#8 Cutest Photo of 2011:
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Cutest Kitten in the World.

For your Caturday pleasure, this is an encore Presentayshe of Meme, originally posted April 2008.

There are really no sufficient words to accurately describe the proshness you are about to witness. Rest-assured the Japanese [shaking fist to sky] beat us AGAIN on this one. This time with the delectable dollop named “Memebon”

See a LOT more of Memebon, her family and tons of merch over at Memebon.jp

#7 Cutest Photo of 2011:
Release the Dweebs!

OBOY OBOY HERE I GO HYUP HYUP LEMMIE ATTEM HERP DERP

HUFFA PUFFA WAIT FER ME CHUFFA CHUFFA WHEEZE

BLARRFLE NARFLE FLAPPITY-FLAFFLE MARGLE PLEARF BLAP

Submitterated by Mischa M. More poise and grace here.

#6 Cutest Photo of 2011:
Plankittening

Kitten Planking! IT’S THE NEW OWLING! TEAPOTTING!
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Elizabeth V., you are a TRENDSETTER

#5 Cutest Photo of 2011:
The Tiniest Snorfer

(…is also the tiniest hoofer, schnozzle and ear flaps coincidentally.)

You absolutely must click to see the other shot of this piglet by whisker snaps photo.

#4 Cutest Photo of 2011:
THIS JUST IN: Pug wearing Pug Slippères

Redonk. Scroll down for proshness:

Sender-Inner Megan B. likes things in triplicate to be safe. Photo by Wombatarama.

#3 Cutest Photo of 2011:
Baby ferret dreams of changing THE WORLD!

One day, [dreamily] ferrets won’t be seen just as furry knee socks with eyes, or hammock-dwelling, mischievous ne’er do-wells!

No! [shifts anerable feets] we ferrets will stand up and — Mmm, delicious blankie — lead other Pocket Pets by example!

No more shoe stealing, constant cat swiping or hiding under bed covers surprising humans when they least expect eet! —Yawn—

That day will come, Claire. It will.

#2 Cutest Photo of 2011:
Ladies and Gentlemen, the best pet Halloween costume of all time.

For the record:
1. Yes, I am biased because I have (and adore) Italian Greyhounds
2. Yes, I am biased because I love Star Wars
3. Yes, I am biased because I appreciate my local “inspiration” for AT-ATs

Still, you cannot deny this remains the best Halloween pet costume you’ve seen since “Croc Munches Pup“

Inspiring work, Katie M.! Pup “Bones” has a FaceBook page, natch.

#1 Cutest photo of 2011:
How to Pick Up a Baby Red Panda in 5 Easy Steps

Step 1: Locate Cub. Snorf cub neck to determine if said cub is indeed the correct cub that needs a pickin’ (up.)

Step 2: Brace self with nearby log (or chair leg) for support

Step 3: Grip cub firmly with patented Double-Wrap-Around-Huggular-Neck-Chomp-n-Claw™ motion!

Step 4: If cub grip loosens, perform extra snarfing action at nape of neck

Step 5: Finally, carry cub around like you own the place!

Oh and, try not to swing the baby to and fro, it’s bad form.

Cuteporter Sarah A. discovered these gems by RomeoOliverPool.

Nine Stubborn Brain Myths That Just Won't Die, Debunked by Science [Brain Hacks]

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 10:21:03 +1300

Nine Stubborn Brain Myths That Just Won't Die, Debunked by Science [Brain Hacks]:

Brain games will make you smarter! The internet is making you dumber! Alcohol is killing your brain cells! The brain is a mystery we’ve been trying to solve for ages, and the desire to unlock its secrets has led to vast amounts of misinformation. Many of these false notions are more widely believed than the truth. We took our healthy skepticism and a bunch of brain research to find the truth behind some of the most common myths about intelligence and our brains. Here’s what we learned. More »

I miss Hypercard

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:44:45 +1300

I miss Hypercard:

From Matt Lane - Google+ Post Feed http://bit.ly/vnBYWn I miss Hypercard

Powered by Plu.sr

Global Village Construction Set: Towards a DIY civilization

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:30:02 +1300

Global Village Construction Set: Towards a DIY civilization:

From Matt Lane - Google+ Post Feed http://bit.ly/vnBYWn

Best statistics question ever

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 15:39:00 +1300

Best statistics question ever:

The 99 percent

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:49:47 +1300

The 99 percent: From Daily chart http://econ.st/skeaAb

“Occupy Wall Street” gets a boost from a new report on income distribution

OF ALL the many banners being waved around the world by disgruntled protesters from Chile to Australia the one that reads, “We Are the 99%” is the catchiest. It is purposefully vague, but it is also underpinned by some solid economics. A report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) points out that income inequality in America has not risen dramatically over the past 20 years—when the top 1% of earners are excluded. With them, the picture is quite different. The causes of the good fortune of those at the top are disputed, but the CBO provides some useful detail on that too. The biggest component of the increase in after-tax income for the top one percent is “business income” as opposed to income from labour or investments (though admittedly these things are hard to untangle). Whatever the cause, the data are powerful because they tend to support two prejudices. First, that a system that works well for the very richest has delivered returns on labour that are disappointing for everyone else. Second, that the people at the top have made out like bandits over the past few decades, and that now everyone else must pick up the bill. Of course it is a little more complicated than that. But this downturn ought to test the normally warm feelings in America of the 99% towards the 1%.

The Movement Is Growing…

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:34:37 +1300

The Movement Is Growing…: From Tosh.0 Blog http://bit.ly/oEbjCN

It appears he is also 99% body fat.

[via I Am Bored]

Ladies and Gentlemen, the best pet Halloween costume of all time.

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 11:04:33 +1300

Ladies and Gentlemen, the best pet Halloween costume of all time.: From Cute Overload http://bit.ly/qrhBsT

Still, you cannot deny this remains the best Halloween pet costume you’ve seen since “Croc Munches Pup“

[DRUM ROLLIO IGLESIAS]

Inspiring work, Katie M.! Pup “Bones” has a FaceBook page, natch.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: halloween, Pups

Google Reader Getting Overhauled, Removing Your Friends

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 10:49:34 +1300

Google Reader Getting Overhauled, Removing Your Friends: From TechCrunch http://tcrn.ch/f0ONyw

Today Google announced its long-ignored RSS app Google Reader is getting an update. Most notably, it’s getting a fresh new design along the same lines as Google’s other products, like Docs, Maps, Search and Gmail. While I’m not entirely thrilled about this change (I prefer the utilitarian look for the service), I understand Google’s need to maintain user interface consistency across its online products.

What really bothers me, however, is Google’s casual decision to remove all of Google Reader’s “social” features, including friending, following and shared link blogs.

Look, I get that there’s probably only ten of you out there reading this who care much about changes to Google Reader. For mainstream news consumers, that Google is now streamlining and beautifying this neglected product is probably welcome news. But for those of us who use Google Reader regularly as a utility – as a place to track, follow, archive and search dozens of sources of information from favorite blogs to company feeds and more – any change to Reader has the equivalent impact as an overhaul of Gmail. In other words, proceed carefully or prepare for an earful.

And in this particular case, here comes the earful: I’m going to miss the “social” features Google Reader delivers.

Wait, don’t laugh!

To be clear, I don’t really consider or use Google Reader as “social” product like Facebook, Twitter or Google+ (hence the quotes). I don’t comment much on feeds, or friend and follow dozens of users. But I do enjoy reading the shares from a select group of heavy-duty RSS consumers who are consistently sharing interesting items. When I’m behind on the day’s news, all I have to do is read TechCrunch, TechMeme and this carefully constructed “human curated” list of shares. It is, and will be up until the day it disappears, one of the most regular and enjoyable news consumption behaviors I engage in every day.

Although there are many other services out there that promise to bubble up relevant content based on my interests, the best product I’ve used to date was the human curation of my Google Reader friends. Not only did my group consistently share the top tech news I’d want to read, they also share those oddball but interesting stories from outside of tech, including humorous cartoons, popular videos, space and science news, parenting tips and other news completely unrelated to tech, but still compelling.

Of course, there were probably only a handful of us really using this feature, so of course, like all those other services Google is shutting down, it’s getting axed too. But Google, if you think I’m going to “Circle” this group in order to continue reading their shares, you’ve got another thing coming. You can’t force me into using Google+ by stealing pieces of Google Reader. That’s not how that’s going to work.

Doctors warming to Paleo diet

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:19:44 +1300

Doctors warming to Paleo diet:

From Sentient Developments http://bit.ly/p69tpp A growing number of scientists, medical doctors and nutritionists have argued that a Stone Age lifestyle could benefit human health and even cure chronic diseases. Check out this surprisingly good video series that was recently put together by CBS:

Mind Blown

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 13:04:33 +1300

Mind Blown:

From reddit pictures with pictures http://bit.ly/oyZPCW

submitted by AForak9 to funny
[link] [275 comments] [funnygif.net]

Putting Emails In Folders Is a Waste of Time, Says IBM Study

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 12:50:17 +1300

Putting Emails In Folders Is a Waste of Time, Says IBM Study: From Slashdot http://slashdot.org/ An anonymous reader writes “There are two types of office workers in the world — those who file their emails in folders, and those who use search. Well, it looks like the searchers are smarter. A 354-user study by IBM research found that users who just searched their inbox found emails slightly faster than users who had filed them by folder. Add the time spent filing and the searchers easily come out on top. Apparently the filers are using their inbox as a to-do list rather than wanting to categorize information to find it more easily.”

Chart Of The Day

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 12:19:23 +1300

Chart Of The Day: From The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan http://bit.ly/n6lATs

Courtesy of James Sinclair:

Yeah, I’m oversimplifying, but only a little. The greatest threat to our economy is neither corporations nor the government. The greatest threat to our economy is both of them working together. There are currently two sizable coalitions of angry citizens that are almost on the same page about that, and they’re too busy insulting each other to notice.

(Hat tip: Jim Harper)

Is this what’s feeding the Occupy Wall Street protests?

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 12:19:23 +1300

Is this what’s feeding the Occupy Wall Street protests?: From Business Pundit http://bit.ly/okpJJF

We’ve seen it mentioned several times over the last week so we thought we’d pose this question to our readers:

Should the real targets of the Occupy Wall Street protests be the fat cats in our institutions of Higher Education?

The fact is that it’s nearly impossible to untangle the causes of the economic mess we’re in. Whether the cause is government (according to the libertarians) or the financial industry (according to the progressives) or an economically ungrounded system of higher education and student loans (according to all of us with a degree, no job and big student debt), there’s a pretty clear message… everyday people are getting tired of getting jerked around.

From: Best Colleges

Who Really Owns The NYPD? Turns Out It's Not Such A Rhetorical Question

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 12:19:22 +1300

Who Really Owns The NYPD? Turns Out It's Not Such A Rhetorical Question: From Crooks and Liars http://bit.ly/pIW7cI

enlarge

I wrote last week about the multi-million dollar contribution to the NYPD from JPChase, but it turns out the corporate influence goes much deeper than that. Pam Martens, an activist who successfully sued the NYPD after her arrest for handing out leaflets about corruption at Citibank, tells us a lot of things we didn’t know about the relationship between the NYPD and Wall Street, and it’s jawdropping information:

If you’re a Wall Street behemoth, there are endless opportunities to privatize profits and socialize losses beyond collecting trillions of dollars in bailouts from taxpayers. One of the ingenious methods that has remained below the public’s radar was started by the Rudy Giuliani administration in New York City in 1998. It’s called the Paid Detail Unit and it allows the New York Stock Exchange and Wall Street corporations, including those repeatedly charged with crimes, to order up a flank of New York’s finest with the ease of dialing the deli for a pastrami on rye.

The corporations pay an average of $37 an hour (no medical, no pension benefit, no overtime pay) for a member of the NYPD, with gun, handcuffs and the ability to arrest. The officer is indemnified by the taxpayer, not the corporation.

New York City gets a 10 percent administrative fee on top of the $37 per hour paid to the police. The City’s 2011 budget called for $1,184,000 in Paid Detail fees, meaning private corporations were paying wages of $11.8 million to police participating in the Paid Detail Unit. The program has more than doubled in revenue to the city since 2002.

The taxpayer has paid for the training of the rent-a-cop, his uniform and gun, and will pick up the legal tab for lawsuits stemming from the police personnel following illegal instructions from its corporate master. Lawsuits have already sprung up from the program.

Apparently the city doesn’t bother to insure the NYPD for liability, saying it’s cheaper to shell out for settlements. (Here’s a guy who was strong-armed by those private detail cops for daring to attempt to use the bathroom during a 9/11 tribute at a Yankees game. Wonder how much that cost the city? In the past decade, the NYPD has paid almost a billion dollars in legal settlements.)

When the program was first rolled out, one insightful member of the NYPD posted the following on a forum: “… regarding the officer working for, and being paid by, some of the richest people and organizations in the City, if not the world, enforcing the mandates of the private employer, and in effect, allowing the officer to become the Praetorian Guard of the elite of the City. And now corruption is no longer a problem. Who are they kidding?”

[…] When the infamously mismanaged Wall Street firm, Lehman Brothers, collapsed on September 15, 2008, its bankruptcy filings in 2009 showed it owed money to 21 members of the NYPD’s Paid Detail Unit. (A phone call and email request to the NYPD for information on which Wall Street firms participate in the program were not responded to. The police unions appear to have only scant information about the program.)

Other Wall Street firms that are known to have used the Paid Detail include Goldman Sachs, the World Financial Center complex which houses financial firms, and the New York Stock Exchange.

[…] On September 8, 2004, Robert Britz, then President and Co-Chief Operating Officer of the New York Stock Exchange, testified as follows to the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services:

“…we have implemented new hiring standards requiring former law enforcement or military backgrounds for the security staff…We have established a 24-hour NYPD Paid Detail monitoring the perimeter of the data centers…We have implemented traffic control and vehicle screening at the checkpoints. We have installed fixed protective planters and movable vehicle barriers.”

Military backgrounds; paid NYPD 24-7; checkpoints; vehicle barriers? It might be insightful to recall that the New York Stock Exchange originally traded stocks with a handshake under a Buttonwood tree in the open air on Wall Street.

In his testimony, the NYSE executive Britz states that “we” did this or that while describing functions that clearly belong to the City of New York. The New York Stock Exchange at that time had not yet gone public and was owned by those who had purchased seats on the exchange – primarily, the largest firms on Wall Street. Did the NYSE simply give itself police powers to barricade streets and set up checkpoints with rented cops? How about clubbing protesters on the sidewalk?

[…] Police Commissioner Ray Kelly may also have a soft spot for Wall Street. He was formerly Senior Managing Director of Global Corporate Security at Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., the Wall Street firm that collapsed into the arms of JPMorgan in March of 2008.

There has also been a bizarre revolving door between the Wall Street millionaires and the NYPD at times. One of the most puzzling career moves was made by Stephen L. Hammerman. He left a hefty compensation package as Vice Chairman of Merrill Lynch & Co. in 2002 to work as Deputy Commissioner of Legal Matters for the NYPD from 2002 to 2004. That move had everyone on Wall Street scratching their head at the time. Merrill collapsed into the arms of Bank of America on September 15, 2008, the same date that Lehman went under.

Wall Street is not the only sector renting cops in Manhattan. Department stores, parks, commercial banks and landmarks like Rockefeller Center, Jacob Javits Center and St. Patrick’s Cathedral have also participated in the Paid Detail Unit, according to insiders. But Wall Street is the only sector that runs a private justice system where its crimes are herded off to secret arbitration tribunals, has sucked on the public teat to the tune of trillions of dollars, escaped prosecution for the financial collapse, and can put an armed municipal force on the sidewalk to intimidate public protestors seeking a realignment of their democracy.

We may be learning a lot more in the future about the tactics Wall Street and the NYPD have deployed against the Occupy Wall Street protestors. The highly regarded Partnership for Civil Justice Fund has filed a class action lawsuit over the approximately 700 arrests made on the Brooklyn Bridge on October 1. The formal complaint and related information is available at the organization’s web site, www.JusticeOnLine.org.

The organization was founded by Carl Messineo and Mara Verheyden-Hilliard. The Washington Post has called them “the constitutional sheriffs for a new protest generation.”

The suit names Mayor Bloomberg, Police Commissioner Kelly, the City of New York, 30 unnamed members of the NYPD, and, provocatively, 10 unnamed law enforcement officers not employed by the NYPD:

Defendants JOHN or JANE DOES 31 - 40 are unidentified law enforcement officials, officers or agents who, although not employed by the NYPD, did engage in joint action with the NYPD and its officials, officers and agents to cause the mass false arrest of the plaintiff class.

I contacted Martens for clarification. She said the attorneys seem to believe the FBI and/or Secret Service may have had a presence in or around the protest. Martens has also filed a “sunshine” request under NY state laws to see how many of the 30 NYPD referenced in the lawsuit were working for Wall Street that day.

Quantum Levitation

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:35:37 +1300

Quantum Levitation:

From keir000’s YouTube Activity http://bit.ly/qBZVYZ

I liked a YouTube video: Tel-Aviv University demos quantum superconductors locked in a magnetic field.

Angry Birds In Real Life

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 14:50:15 +1300

Angry Birds In Real Life: From Neatorama http://bit.ly/mHW6t5

Admit it, we’ve all wondered what kind of birds the angry birds actually are. Finally, someone has caught pictures of the animals in their wild habitats where it is a lot easier to tell their actual species.

Link Via Laughing Squid