SHOTCLOTH

...woven in such a way that the colour appears to change depending on the angle at which the cloth is seen

The Ethicist: Tell Us Why It’s Ethical to Eat Meat: A Contest

By ARIEL KAMINER, nytimes.com

The Ethi­cist asks read­ers to make an eth­i­cal case for eat­ing meat.

I wonder what they will come up with. It seems a trick to make people see that it’s indefensible. The only real ethical argument is that God said it’s okay, from my point of view. He did not, however, say that the standard torture and abuse of animals in factory meat operations were okay. Which is where the vast majority of meat comes from today. Which is why I love Austin. At least here, much of the meat served at many restaurants is locally, small-farm, and humanely raised.

Blog Post: The Dystopian Timeline to The Hunger Games [INFOGRAPHIC]goodreads.com Post­ed by Patrick on March 21, 2012Dystopi­an fic­tion is more pop­u­lar than it has been in more than 50 years. Whether it’s the result of polit­i­cal tur­moil, glob­al finan­cial crises, or other anx­i­eties, read­ers are crav­ing books abou… Good site overall, for passionate readers. Here is an interesting overview of dystopian novels, in a timeline setting. I hope everyone has already read 1984 and Brave New World. I have, but it was a shocker to me that BNW was published in 1932. When you read it, you’ll see why. It wasn’t prophetic, it was The Plan, all along. Ditto 1984, published is 1949.

Blog Post: The Dystopian Timeline to The Hunger Games [INFOGRAPHIC]
goodreads.com

Post­ed by Patrick on March 21, 2012

Dystopi­an fic­tion is more pop­u­lar than it has been in more than 50 years. Whether it’s the result of polit­i­cal tur­moil, glob­al finan­cial crises, or other anx­i­eties, read­ers are crav­ing books abou…

Good site overall, for passionate readers. Here is an interesting overview of dystopian novels, in a timeline setting. I hope everyone has already read 1984 and Brave New World. I have, but it was a shocker to me that BNW was published in 1932. When you read it, you’ll see why. It wasn’t prophetic, it was The Plan, all along. Ditto 1984, published is 1949.

Doctored Designs: 6 Minimalist Mental Disorder Postersweburbanist.com By Delana in Archi­tec­ture & Design, Graf­fi­ti & Draw­ing, Sub­ver­tis­ing & Counter-AdsRais­ing aware­ness of men­tal ill­ness­es is an impor­tant part of eras­ing the stig­ma attached to those dis­or­ders. Graph­ic design­er Patrick Smith… Very catchy. I’d like to frame and hang the entire collection. Just for those times I forget which ones apply to me.

Doctored Designs: 6 Minimalist Mental Disorder Posters
weburbanist.com

By Delana in Archi­tec­ture & Design, Graf­fi­ti & Draw­ing, Sub­ver­tis­ing & Counter-Ads

Rais­ing aware­ness of men­tal ill­ness­es is an impor­tant part of eras­ing the stig­ma attached to those dis­or­ders. Graph­ic design­er Patrick Smith…

Very catchy. I’d like to frame and hang the entire collection. Just for those times I forget which ones apply to me.

Edison’s Boxing Cats

You know that viral YouTube video about the boxing cats? Thomas Edison did it first! Nothing new under the sun. His is actually better.

Age-Old Questions

In late 1600’s London, people wrote into a gazette and got answers, just as they do today to a newspaper or blog, except back then, virtually everyone believed in God, and thought about him a great deal, so many of the questions reflected this state of mind. This project, The Athenian Mercury, is interesting reading, if you have enough patience for the unwieldy cobwebby language.

Examples:

“Quest. 4. Where was the soul of Lazarus for the four days he lay in the grave?
Answ. It was neither in Heaven nor Hell; if it had been in Heaven, it had been a great cruelty to have deprived it of the Beatifick Vision, and sent it again into it’s body to hazard another possibility of damnation:—If it had been in Hell, then that doctrine falls to the ground, that there is no redemption from thence..”
“Quest. 2. Whether the Soul is Eternal, or preexistent from the Creation, or contemporary with its Embrio?
Answer, Souls are not Eternal, for then they would be Gods, and not Created Beings (Creation supposing a Commencement of time) and that they are Created Beings, we have the Testimony of Scripture..”
Other questions include “Whether ‘tis lawful for a man to beat his wife?”and “Whether all souls are alike?’
The answers provided were interesting; not all Biblically correct, of course, but often not what I would’ve expected.

Rats are truly empathetic

(excerpted from www.mercola.com)

  • A newly published study suggests empathy plays a role in the helping behavior of rats.
  • In the experiment, when two rats were placed in a cage and one was restrained in a compartment inside the cage, the free rat kept trying until she learned how to open the door to the compartment and free the trapped rat.
  • Once the free rats learned how to open the doors to the restraints, it was the first thing they did when placed in the cage with their trapped friend.
  • The free rats weren’t fooled by stuffed toy rats in restraints, nor were they tempted for long by chocolate chips if their cage mate needed their help.
  • Six out of six female rats became door-openers for trapped cage mates, compared to 17 of 24 male rats, which is consistent with the idea that females in general tend to be more empathetic than males.

  • The researchers were also able to establish that the free rats weren’t motivated by a need for companionship or other self-interest. When the cages were set up such that the trapped rat, when set free by the unrestrained rat, would be funneled into a separate enclosure, the rats still opened the doors to the restraints. The researchers concluded the free rats were interested only in ending the distress of the restrained rats.

  • In a final test, the rats were tempted with chocolate, which they were known to prefer over rat chow. In control experiments, when rats were alone in their cages with no cage mate (restrained or otherwise), they ate every last piece of chocolate they were given. The researchers put piles of chocolate chips in the cages. Even if the free rats sampled a few pieces of chocolate before heading for the door to the restraint, they invariably made it a priority to free their cage mates and then allowed them to eat the rest of the candy. “It said to us that essentially helping their cage mate is on a par with chocolate. He can hog the entire chocolate stash if he want(s) to, and he does not. We were shocked,” said study co-author Peggy Mason.

I was really surprised to see this ad done by MTV, of all sources. Apparently, it is no longer the sole domain of conspiracy theorists to expect the round up and transportation to camps of ordinary civilians; perhaps the ones on the official government “watch list”; two groups of which are: homeschoolers and “fundamental Christians”.

Quick & easy, free way to organize your social calendar

This is a great site. Very clean layout, no visual noise or gimmicks. Lets you set up a MeetMe page to show your aggregate availability for getting together with friends (or colleagues). My best feature is setting up a poll page, i.e.:

I’m having a party!

Which day can you come (most popular day wins)?

Friday, Saturday, or Sunday? Check a box.

Isn’t that neat?